COLUMBUS – Three members of the “T&A Crips” street gang pleaded guilty Wednesday to their roles in a racketeering conspiracy that ruled an East Side neighborhood with violence and intimidation for most of a decade, committing several murders, including that of a 7-year-old boy caught in a crossfire.
Terrell Hansard, Brandon Martin and Charles Carson pleaded guilty to participating in three separate murders between 2013 and 2016, including the death of 7-ear-old Deaonte Fisher, who was a bystander in a shooting between rival gang members in March 2016, according to a release from the office of U.S. attorney, David DeVillers.
Two other defendants have also agreed to plead guilty in this case and will appear before the Court next month.
The five men are part of 19 defendants charged as members and associates of a Crips-associated gang known as T&A, a name from Trevitt and Atcheson streets in the King-Lincoln District of Columbus, where its members predominantly resided, Devillers said.
Beginning in June 2010, DeVillers say the gang members and associates committed murders and attempted murders, dealt drug trafficking and firearms trafficking and engaged in witness tampering, robbery, assault and other crimes.
The gang controlled the neighborhood through intimidation, fear and violence and gang members were expected to retaliate with acts of violence when their members and associates were disrespected, threatened, intimidated or subjected to acts of violence.
Hansard, 22, also known as “T Body,” pleaded guilty to murdering Fisher as well as other drug- and racketeering-related charges.
Martin, 27, aka “Gunner,” pleaded guilty to participating in the racketeering conspiracy and murder in the aid of racketeering in the shooting death of rival gang member William Moore in March 2013 on Mount Vernon Avenue. Devillers says Martin was involved in another gunfight the next day, when he shot another gang member.
Carson, 24, pleaded guilty to participating to conspiracy and took responsibility for the January 2015 murder of Quincy Story, who was killed on S. James Road because he was perceived as disrespecting a fallen associate of a T&A subgroup called Waun Gang, DeVillers said.
Plea bargain agreements have also been filed in the cases of Deswan “Dezzy” Robinson and Michael Watson.
Robinson has offered to accept responsibility for his role in the murder of William Moore in March 2013. The plea will be considered at a federal court at a hearing on March 11.
Watson has agreed to plead guilty to racketeering, distributing controlled substances and for his role in the December 2013 murder of Marvin Ector on E. 5th Avenue. He is scheduled to appear in court on March 18.