Five with ties to Louisville's Victory Park Crips arrested on gun charges
Billing a new indictment as the first round of legal action in an ongoing task force effort to slash violent crime in Louisville, prosecutors on Wednesday announced charges against five people they say are connected to the Louisville gang Victory Park Crips.
The five defendants are all accused of conspiring to move guns into the hands of gang members banned from having them, according to a recently unsealed 40-count indictment.
“This is a down payment on what I hope will be myriad, multiple similar announcements from this podium in the coming months and in the coming year,” said U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman at a news conference.
The arrests were part of the work of the Louisville Metro INTEL Task Force, which was announced in January by Louisville Metro Police as a dedicated, unprecedented effort to cut violent crime, drug trafficking and gang violence by arresting and prosecuting the city's most violent offenders.
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Members of the task force include LMPD, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Jefferson Commonwealth Attorney's Office.
Chicoby Summers, 22; Shelby Strong, 33; Jerlen Horton, 23; Derrick Hammond, 33; and Lakeshia Watts, 23, were all arrested Tuesday and made their first appearance in U.S. District Court in Louisville.
They are all charged with conspiracy to possess a firearm by a prohibited person, and most in the group face additional firearm-related charges.
Many of the charges carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Coleman called the Victory Park Crips a "violent street gang" operating mostly out of the city's west end that uses guns to traffic drugs, intimidate rival gangs and preserve its own reputation and power.
"The culture of the Victory Park Crips glorifies guns and violence," the indictment reads. "Firearms are a status symbol to members..."
Prosecutors allege Hammond, Summers and Horton are Crips gang members, while Watts lived with Horton and is "closely associated" with gang members. Strong is described in the suit as an "associate" of Hammond's.
Strong, who isn't a felon and could legally buy guns, is accused of purchasing firearms from federally licensed dealers and transferring them to gang members who are felons, who legally can't buy or have guns. The indictment further alleges Strong would lie when filling out paperwork to buy the firearms.
These straw purchases are just one way the gang gets guns, Coleman said, though he declined to elaborate.
The indictment states that the guns were ultimately used to carry out gang violence, though officials declined to comment Wednesday on any connections made to specific crimes, citing an ongoing investigation.
Ten of 31 firearms mentioned in the indictment have been recovered. All but four were bought at River City Firearms in Louisville during multiple visits in 2016 and 2017, according to the indictment.
ATF Special Agent in Charge Stuart Lowrey said all proper paperwork and background checks occurred during the gun sales, though he didn't say definitively if any of the sellers would face charges.
Police Chief Steve Conrad praised the work of his Ninth Mobile Division, which focuses on violent crime reduction. Since the start of the year, federal personnel have been embedded with the division.
"This commitment is different," Conrad said of the task force, noting there is no definitive end date for its work. "We are going to continue to work together relentlessly to do what we can to make Louisville a safer city."
The task force came on the heels of 2016's record-breaking 123 homicides — 117 killings within LMPD's jurisdiction and another six in Jefferson County, marking the most lethal year here since at least 1960.
So far this year, LMPD has recorded 100 homicides.
Amy Hess, FBI Louisville Division special agent in charge, referenced that upswing in homicides, saying while not all of the city's violent crime is gang-related, "a significant portion is."
“Federal prosecution achieves more severe sentences and penalties, which allows us to dismantle or disrupt the entire criminal enterprise,” Hess said.
Matthew Glowicki: 502-582-4989; mglowicki@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @MattGlo. Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/mattg