100 gang members and two sentenced? What about the other 98?
Three targets of the Operation Augusta Ink sting received long prison sentences Wednesday that will be served in federal penitentiaries without the possibility of parole.
Jacob A. Plowright, was sentenced to 32 years in prison; Rafael C. Milligan 25 years; and Matthew T. Roberts 14 years.
The young men, their parents and their defense attorneys were at a loss to explain how the men fell into a criminal pattern that included the shooting of a convenience store owner and carjackings.
Maybe it's peer pressure, arrogance, greed or some fanciful aspirations that cause such behavior, U.S. District Court Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. said. But the reasons why matter less than what others should know about what follows such deeds -- they go to prison for decades, he said.
Paul Patel told the judge Wednesday how he was working with his wife at their Richmond Hill Market on Jan. 1, 2007, when two armed men came in and started shooting. Hearing his wife's screams, he rushed toward her. The gunmen shot him twice in the legs and once in the stomach.
The next day, Mr. Plowright, 20, sold a 9mm handgun to an undercover officer at the storefront Colur Tyme Tattoos and Things. ATF ballistics tests connected the gun to the bullets recovered after Mr. Patel was shot.
Mr. Plowright and Nathaniel E. Jones, 19, were the gunmen. Mr. Jones was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison.
In February, a bouncer at a Washington Road club was shot twice in the chest.
A week later, Mr. Plowright and Mr. Jones brought another handgun to the undercover storefront. It matched the bullets taken at the club shooting.
On May 19, Mr. Milligan, 20, and Mr. Roberts, 18, took an Augusta woman's BMW 3251 at gunpoint.
Two days later, they were joined by Demetrius K. Ford, 19, in another carjacking at gunpoint, according to court documents. Mr. Ford is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
The 16-month Augusta Ink operation by state and federal officers led to the arrest of more than 100 suspected gang members. Undercover officers bought 400 stolen weapons, drugs and stolen vehicles during the operation.
Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
100 gang members and two sentenced? What about the other 98?
Maybe their cases have not come to trtial yet. duhhhhh
sorry, I did not spell check. I meant "trial." I was so in awe of PT's ability to see something negative in every story - I just jumped with the "submit."
Yeah, there's nothing like a positive group of arrested criminals not being charged. Good stuff areyoukidding.
Maybe some of the parents of young kids out there will read these long sentences and start taking a little more interest in where there kids are, who they are with and what they are doing with their free time. The article says that they could not understand how their kids fell into the criminal pattern. How as a parent can you now see your kid go to jail for many years and not know that your own lack of parenting contributed to this. Yea some kids do make bad decision even with good parents, but for the most part if you look at the entire cases, most parents weren't around or didn't have rules or know where their kids were most of the time. This is all sooooo sad and it didn't have to be. WAKE UP PARENTS and BE PARENTS, NOT FRIENDS TO YOUR KIDS. YOU ARE IN CHARGE NOT THEM AND WHO CARES IF THEY DON'T LIKE THE RULES. TOO BAD! PARENTING JUST MAY SAVE YOUR KIDS LIVES!!!
read again. thats 4 sentenced. simple math
The "parents" of these criminals probably don't or can't read. How they can be surprised, is beyond me.
Most of these families probably get Gov. Checks, these children are just commodities go get More Gov. money. When they realize they are nothing but a commodity they care for no one.
Stating that these young men come from families that probably get government checks is an assumption and was not printed in this story. I suppose kids who don't come from families that receive government checks are supposed to not commit crime? That's crazy. I happen to know a young man that was being raised by his grandparents. The grandparents have never been on any type of government assistance. They spoiled him, gave him the world. But, they also performed old school parenting, which meant he did nothing, went nowhere, and had no friends unless the grandparents approved. The grandparents were loving, involved with his education, and even good disciplinarians. The young man went to high school and things went down hill from there. The grandparents tried as best they could to get him away from "bad kids," but they couldn't. After having raised him for 16 years, they finally sent him to be with his other grandparents when he started stealing from them. They were very hurt by his actions. This proves that some kids just have to learn the hard way, no matter how much love and affection and support they get from the home.
they have listed others that were sentenced in previous issues of the paper.
they have listed others that were sentenced in previous issues of the paper.
Even good kids do bad things. Great parents don't always make great kids. But....the odds are there was something very wrong at home. Even so, when did people start caring so little about others? I guess that if you don't value your life much, valuing someone else's life is a foreign concept. Obama will fix this and Bush caused this.
Well King James it just maybe in the genes....we read in here comments from folks who admit that they would steal (gas and such) if they could get away with it......stealing is stealing no matter how small the item or amount......
LOL.....14putt that obmassiah is some kinda wunder ain't he !!!............LOL : )
"the young men, their parents and their defense attorneys were at a loss to explain how the men fell into a criminal pattern..."
gag me with a spoon.
I agree karma, some kids are just hard-headed when it comes to real life rules and laws that shouldn't be broken. Sometimes their behavior is completely opposite from how they were raised. But, like they say, a hard head makes for a soft behind! I think they have learned their lessons about being criminals, now they have to learn how to pay their debts to society. They will spend more than twice their current ages in prison for being stupid. But, one can't always say that it is because the family received government assistantce.
King James where were the parents?
The odds are more likely that the parents did recieve government assistance though. The hoodlums and trash that commit these crimes need to be made examples of. It is NOT racism that you see (though so many blindly scream it is) it is a class situation. It is the poor class (less) members of society that are doing this. While there are exceptions (middle class committing crimes) it is a rite of passage to many of the lower classes welfare families. At one time it used to be shameful to have a criminal family member. Unfortunately in today's society for the class it is the opposite. Something needs to be done to stop this mindset and do away with the government leeches.
all i have to say to the "criminals" is BYE, and by the don't drop the soap
patriciathomas, dozens and dozens of the lesser perpetrators have already been sentenced. There is an alarming lack of drive-by shootings in our paper, so much so they had to shrink their "Across the Area" section. It would be interesting for Sandy Hodson to look at emergency room activity from before and after the fabulous Color Tyme sting!
KingJames, where that boy's parents? Seems granparents "raise" a lot of their grand kids.
14putt, the only thing Obama is going to fix is to make it easier for trash like this to claim injustice and be released back into society to perpetrate more of the insaneness upon the law abiding, productive members of our spciety. GET REAL.
King James' point that just because these young criminals lived a life of crime doesn't mean they were the product of government subsidies has some merit. However, the g.s. lifestyle tends to teach one that the free ride is available and that if you don't earn what you want, someone will give it to you. It's a tiny step to ...if someone doesn't give it to you, just take it. The example that most g.s. parents set for their children also leans toward this attitude. While these youngsters might not be from g.s. families, they probably were.
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