San Diego West Coast Crips Gang Member Gets Life in Murder, Sex Trafficking, Robbery Enterprise

SAN DIEGO, CA — West Coast Crips gang member Wilbert Ross was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to life in prison for his role in a racketeering enterprise involving execution-style murders, a takeover robbery, witness intimidation and sex trafficking, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego.

Ross, 32, of Chula Vista, is the first of four West Coast Crips members to be sentenced following conviction by a federal jury in March. The jury found Ross and San Diego residents Terry Carry Hollins, 33, Jermaine Gerald Cook, 31, and Marcus Anthony Foreman, 28, guilty of conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity at the conclusion of a five-week trial and about eight hours of deliberations. The jury also found Ross guilty of two counts of sex trafficking.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw sentenced Ross to life on the RICO conspiracy count, 10 years for sex trafficking of a minor and 15 years for sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. The judge also ordered Ross to pay $42,803 in restitution resulting from multiple homicides.

“It’s a relief to know that this ruthless gang member will never again bring violence into San Diego neighborhoods,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “This life sentence is a strong signal to gangs that you are not invincible, and you will be held accountable.”

The federal racketeering statute known as “RICO” historically has been used to prosecute mobsters and organized crime, but federal prosecutors have been using the statute on street gangs in recent years because the gangs are increasingly acting as organized criminal enterprises, Duffy's office said.

“Today’s life sentence sends a strong message to all gang members who commit acts of violence and threaten the safety of our community,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge, Eric S. Birnbaum. “The FBI will continue to work tirelessly to dismantle violent street gangs that victimize our community.”

Sabraw will also sentence Hollins next Wednesday, and Cook and Foreman on Aug. 26.

The jury found that the defendants were participating in a criminal enterprise when:

— Cook fatally shot Joseph Hutchins, 19, for wearing a red shirt, the color of a rival gang, as the victim was riding his bicycle on Orange Avenue in San Diego.

— Foreman approached a victim, Andres Caldera, asked for a cigarette then issued a common gang challenge by asking where he was from. When Caldera answered by asking where Foreman was from, Foreman yelled his gang name, pulled a .40-caliber pistol and shot Caldera in the face.

— Foreman, Ross and Hollins robbed a Logan Heights business, forcing employees onto the floor and holding guns to their heads. During an ensuing police chase, the trio ditched their getaway car and a handgun, but officers captured all three and recovered the firearm, which turned out to be the one that had been used to murder Caldera.

— Fellow gang member Meashal Fairley was murdered in front of a San Diego nightclub because of his suspected cooperation with law enforcement. Hollins and Cook were connected to the scene of the crime through DNA evidence, according to prosecutors.

— A gang member was killed in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. Ross had gotten into a dispute with a man over a rental car, and they set up a meeting at the restaurant, supposedly to resolve the disagreement. But upon arrival, the man was attacked by a group of thugs led by Ross. In self-defense, the victim fatally stabbed one of the assailants, Jeffrey "J.J." Rees.

— Gang member Paris Hill was murdered by his cohorts for giving a statement to police about the Rees murder. In a recorded conversation, Hollins told his cellmates: "That's how we did the boy (Hill) ... . When it was time ... I seen it all in his face ... but ... he was a gangster, though. And he knew that ... it was his doing." Prosecutors contended that the comments constituted an admission by Hollins that he had participated in Hill's murder;

— Chyrene Borgen, a gang associate, was gunned down at a Halloween party after she criticized the defendants for murdering Fairley. Following her murder, several defendants posted photos of themselves on social media from the scene of the slaying. The defendants also appeared on cellphone videos, boasting about their criminal offenses.

The four convicted defendants were arrested and charged in 2014 as part of a larger investigation involving 36 other defendants. Thirty-four have pleaded guilty.

One, Cleotha Young, went to trial in June 2015 and was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The lead defendant, Randy Graves, was convicted by a jury on April 4 and is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.

During the trial, prosecutors set out to show the jury how the defendants worked together as a criminal enterprise to commit six murders, to use a 15-year-old girl and another female as prostitutes, and to commit robbery on behalf of the West Coast Crips.

The government called about 100 witnesses, including several street gang members, a shooting victim, friends and associates of the defendants, representatives from the Medical Examiner’s Office and dozens of San Diego Police Department homicide and gang detectives, police officers and criminalists.

The evidence presented by the government included court-authorized wiretap interceptions and recordings of telephone, cellphone and jailhouse conversations between the defendants and others, as well as cellphone videos of the defendants celebrating their West Coast Crips membership and discussing the crimes they were committing, according to Duffy's office.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Todd Robinson, David Leshner, Jose Castillo and Stephen Wong.

The guilty verdicts are the fruit of the collaborative work of the FBI’s East County Regional Gang Task Force and the Violent Crimes Gang Task Force, the San Diego Police Department’s gang and homicide units; the ATF; the El Cajon Police Department; the La Mesa Police Department; San Diego County Probation; the IRS; U.S. Postal Inspectors; the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department; and the California Highway Patrol.

The investigation was coordinated by an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a program created to consolidate and coordinate all law enforcement resources in the country's battle against major drug trafficking rings, drug kingpins and money launderers, Duffy's office said.

— City New Service contributed to this report.

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