Bloods Gang Member Wants Out Of Jail, Fears Coronavirus: DOJ

RIVERHEAD, NY — A federal judge denied a release request Thursday for a member of the violent Bloods gang who pleaded guilty to murder and wanted to be freed on bail because he felt he was at risk for the new coronavirus while awaiting sentencing at a detention center in Brooklyn, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Terrill Latney, 39, who authorities said is a member of the Red Stone Gorilla "set" of the Bloods street gang based in Riverhead, pleaded guilty in February before United States Magistrate Judge A. Kathleen Tomlinson in Central Islip to the charges, including his participation in the murder of Thomas Lacolla on Nov. 17, 2015.

Latney, of Mastic Beach, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, including conspiring to distribute narcotics and participating in the murder of a Riverhead man in 2015, federal authorities said.

Latney's Attorney Neil Checkman filed a release request with U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert of the Eastern District of New York on March 31 saying his client was at risk if he contracted COVID-19 because he weighs 460 pounds and has high blood pressure. Checkman, according to the motion, asked that Latney be released to home confinement at his mother’s home in Riverhead.

Checkman asked that the court release Latney to home confinement due to the fact that he was deemed an "at risk" inmate and because he believed his "continued detention poses an ever-growing threat to his health and life. . . The combination of his high blood pressure and his morbid obesity places him at a particular health risk," the motion read.

Checkman argued that Latney was "literally surrounded by other quarantined inmates" and said Latney's mother, who lives in Riverhead, said that he "would be welcome to stay at her home.

Latney is awaiting sentencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. One inmate at the jail has a confirmed case of COVID-19, federal authorities said. That individual was in isolation and was released from quarantine on March 30; he was without symptoms during quarantine period, U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue for the Eastern District of New York wrote in the government's response to the motion.

Donoghue wrote, in his response, that Latney was "a danger to the community and an extreme flight risk." Latney, he wrote, "is a drug dealer. That is his profession. Latney has made a career of selling poison on the streets of Suffolk County." Donoghue also said while Latney's obesity was "readily apparent," he did not show evidence of high blood pressure and had stated he was in "good physical health" during earlier court proceedings.

According to a Newsday report, Lacolla was shot dead in a 2005 Mercedes-Benz parked in front of a residence on Old Quogue Rd. in Flanders.

Earlier this year Donoghue announced the guilty plea: "As a result of the outstanding work by our prosecutors, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Suffolk County East End Drug Task Force, Latney has been held accountable for his role in a large-scale narcotics distribution operation and a senseless act of violence that took a man's life," he said. "We hope today's guilty plea begins to bring a measure of closure to the victim's family."

As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, Latney participated in the distribution of large quantities of crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin in the Riverhead area for nearly a decade, the DOJ said.

On Nov. 17, 2015, Latney assisted members of the Bloods in their attempt to kill a rival gang member; specifically, Latney drove three Bloods members to a location in Riverhead where they fired at least 39 shots into a vehicle that they erroneously believed was occupied by the rival gang member, the DOJ said. In fact, the car was occupied by Lacolla, who was killed in the gunfire, the DOJ said.

When sentenced, Latney faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, the DOJ said.

The government's case is being handled by the office's Long Island criminal division; Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Boeckmann and Michael Maffei are in charge of the prosecution, the DOJ said.