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    • Columbus police charge 16 people in an investigation into street gang drug trafficking
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    Columbus police charge 16 people in an investigation into street gang drug trafficking

    Online Niel Posted on

    Columbus police announced the arrest of 16 people on drug and gang charges, the culmination of a a two-year investigation into a street gang on the east side of Columbus.

    Dubbed “Operation Pocket Aces,” the years-long investigation targeted members of the “Livingston & Lonsdale Bloods” or “Woodcrest Bloods” street gangs, a local set of Bloods that Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant called “one of the most dangerous and disruptive criminals. organizations in our community” at a press conference Tuesday announcing the charges.

    According to a more than 100-page indictment, gang members trafficked fentanyl, cocaine, oxycodone, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana while carrying firearms. The members were charged with 149 separate crimes.

    “This indictment sends a clear message to violent criminals everywhere that criminal activity will not go unpunished,” Bryant said at a news conference Tuesday at the intersection of East Livingston Avenue and Lonsdale Road.

    Most of the 16 people charged face nonviolent drug, firearms and corruption charges. Two are charged with violent crimes: One person was charged with attempted murder, one charge Gang Unit Sgt. Shawn Gruber said he was transferred from a previous case and another felonious assault case. One person received only one charge of conspiracy.

    Police executed more than 20 search warrants, recovering 56 firearms, including two with switches installed to make them fully automatic — more than $156,000 in cash and a significant amount of street drugs.

    Gruber said gang members sometimes trafficked drugs near schools, increasing criminal penalties.

    Bryant said to expect more operations of this nature.

    “We will continue to use all the tools at our disposal, including information sharing, surveillance and coordination with our federal, local and state partners,” Bryant said. “We are committed to relentlessly pursuing those who profit from crime and threaten the safety of our community.”

    The previous raid at the Hilltop suggested a large undercover investigation

    Columbus police hinted at the operation since a drug bust in the Hilltop last month. On Oct. 17, police arrested 27 people at a home in the 100 block of Whitethorne Avenue and recovered drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine. The police identified most of the people detained, checked for warrants and they were immediately released.

    That day, Columbus police executed search warrants at five different properties. Police said the bust was part of a more extensive investigation by the department’s gang unit. Community complaints about drug dealing and prostitution prompted police to investigate the house on Whitethorne.

    Police typically don’t make public knowledge of such raids, Sgt. James Fuqua said at the time. Police released information about the bust on Whitethorne as local media, including the Dispatch, heard police radio for multiple units to deal with the dozens of people detained.

    Who are the Livingston & Lonsdale Bloods?

    The 16 were members of a street gang based near the intersection of Livingston and Lonsdale streets in Columbus, a small subgroup of the Bloods.

    The Bloods is a street gang founded in the 70s in Los Angeles. It is made up of various smaller “sets” such as the Livingston & Lonsdale Bloods and known for its rivalry with the Crips, another gang network.

    While most of the charges filed against the 16 Columbus men involved drugs, guns and racketeering, the Woodcrest Bloods were involved in previous acts of violence. In 2012, member was convicted of qualified murder in the roadside shooting of a member of Elaine Crips, a rival local street gang.

    Alex Ferguson, then 17, was riding in a car with other members of the Woodcrest Bloods when he saw 18-year-old Tyrone Malcolm riding with another member of the Elaine Crips on January 23, 2010. Ferguson put him on driver to turn the car around and shot Malcolm, prosecutors said in court.

    Ferguson was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2034.

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