Fort Sill responds to 7NEWS questions about gang activity on post

Lawton_Does Fort Sill have a gang problem? That's a question 7NEWS has been asking post officials for the last 6 months. It all began back in November of last year when The Oklahoman newspaper quoted the Lawton Police Gang Task Force and a former City Council member, who all said there are gang members in the military assigned to Fort Sill.

Immediately after the stories were published, we started asking Fort Sill for a response.

This is what they had to say:

Questions from Channel 7 Reporter/Weekend Anchor Monte Brown and PAO responses.

1.) Can Fort Sill definitively say there are no active duty military members stationed on the post who claim gang affiliations or participate in criminal gang activity? How was the answer to this question determined?

A1. No, and we have never made such a claim. We said last November that no evidence of a Fort Sill soldier participating in gang activity has been presented to Fort Sill by civilian law enforcement. No Soldier has been arrested for gang activity or identified by police as a suspect in gang activity. This is still the case as far as we know. It doesn't mean the possibility doesn't exist.

2.) Why did Fort Sill authorize members of the post's criminal investigation division (or military police) to ride along with members of the Lawton Police Department's Gang Task Force following a story regarding Fort Sill gang members which was published in The Oklahoman in November?

A2. Fort Sill law enforcement personnel and commanders of units at Fort Sill are offered the opportunity to ride along with civilian police as a matter of community involvement and information. It helps them understand what the police are dealing with off post, and gives them a better idea of what information needs to be passed on to their Soldiers to keep them safe. ROTC and West Point cadets who visit this summer as part of their leadership training will also take part. This program has been in place between Fort Sill and the Lawton Police Department for years.

3.) Does Fort Sill consider pictures of soldiers "throwing gang signs" gang activity?

A3. If you are referring to pictures of anonymous individuals displaying such signs on social networking sites, the answer is no. Displaying such pictures is not a crime, and a screen name does not allow us to identify the individual, even if the person is wearing military-style clothing. You will see similar pictures displayed on social networking sites around many military installations. If a Soldier is positively identified in such a picture, then his chain of command can take action to investigate and, if needed, counsel the Soldier about his behavior. Individual cases of specifically identified Soldiers known to participate in gang activity may result in criminal or administrative action against the Soldier.

4.) If a soldier is arrested by Lawton Police for any crime considered "gang related" does Fort Sill consider that soldier to be affiliated with a gang and participating in gang activity?

A4. Not necessarily, but it does allow military authorities to investigate further and his chain of command to counsel the Soldier about his activities. If the Soldier is convicted of the crime, then his commander can take action to discharge him from the Army.

5.) Are soldiers who claim gang affiliations allowed to do so in the U.S. Army?

A5. Commanders have the inherent authority to prohibit any activity that detracts from a unit's good order and discipline or morale. Participation in an extremist organization, such as a gang, can result in criminal and administrative sanctions against the Soldier.

6.) How does Fort Sill and the U.S. Army deal with soldiers who are found to claim gang affiliations and participate in gang activity?

A6. Soldiers who participate in extremist activities detract from a unit's good order and discipline and morale. While commanders evaluate each case on an individual basis, Soldiers who do participate in extremist organizations are subject to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and administrative sanctions, to include involuntary separation.

7.) Why has Fort Sill refused repeated requests from this station to talk on camera about this issue?

A7. We have declined all media requests for (on-camera) interviews because we didn't feel it was appropriate to engage on the topic, especially since it is not true to the best of our knowledge. It was a joint decision by the Fort Sill command and the City of Lawton mayor to not grant interviews and allow the police agencies concerned to develop their procedures and working relationships for the new gang task force. Since then we have gone through an exhaustive process to investigate the relationship between our police agencies and their information sharing procedures. After two months we re-evaluated the situation and were very pleased with the results. The indication from both sides is that the information sharing and relationship is greatly improved. Dealing with the gangs issue is a team effort between Lawton and Fort Sill, and from our standpoint both Fort Sill and the City of Lawton are pleased with the cooperation and information-sharing now taking place between our police agencies.

Posted: May 7, 2009 05:04 PM

http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=10324303

Even the lawyers get it! Why can't the Pentagon act NOW?

With more than 1,000,000 criminal street gang members in the United States, communities everywhere are experiencing the negative effects of street gangs (National Gang Intelligence Center [NGIC], 2009). As a result, government officials are searching for innovative and effective ways to restrict the negative impact of gang-related activity on the community. One way of reducing gang-related activity is through gang prevention legislation.

In 1992, Knox (2006) surveyed members of a National Guard unit and found they estimated gang membership in the military from zero to 75%. To date, no follow up research of this nature has been conducted.

On December 12, 1995, following racially-motivated homicides at Fort Bragg, NC, the Secretary of the Army established an investigative task force to “assess the influence of extremist groups in the Army and examine the effect of those groups on the Army's human relations environment." The task force reported: "Gang-related activities appear to be more pervasive than extremist activities as defined in Army Regulation 600-20" (U.S. Department of Defense, 1996, ¶ 16).

Following the homicides at Fort Bragg, members of the Department of Defense concluded that gang members adversely affected the military in a variety of distinct ways. The authors noted there was no official accounting of the scope and nature of the problem; however, the individual branches of the military thought the problem was significant enough to publish gang identification manuals (Flacks & Wiskoff, 1998). To date, no follow up research of this nature has been conducted .

A 2006 Gang Activity Threat Assessment (GATA) by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Command (CID) reported an increase in both gang-related investigations and incidents in 2006 over previous years. The most common gang-related crimes involved drug-trafficking (CID, 2006), though assaults, homicides, and robberies were also reported.

In 2007, the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), a multi-agency effort of the U.S. Department of Justice, distributed an unclassified report that identified incidents of gang activity by military and military-affiliated personnel, similar to the findings of Flacks and Wiskoff (1998) and Knox (2006), and identified gang-related crimes such as murder, racketeering, and drug distribution.

As noted in Can you prevent membership in organized criminal groups if you are the SecDef?, H.R. 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 Section 544 - became law (Public Law 110-181), and requires the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations to prohibit the active participation of military personnel in street gangs (National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA], 2008, Sec. 544). The bill was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President back in January 2008, yet here we are, more than 14 months later, with no changes to military policy on gang membership.

Gustav Eyler, Gangs in the Military, 118 Yale L. J. 696 (2009) recently concluded:

While the threat and presence of military gang members has intensified over the past decade, the military has done little to improve its existing policies. It is time for this to change. The military needs to overhaul its recruitment process, draft new regulations to detect and prevent gang influences, and improve its removal procedures. The various military services should
accomplish this by coordinating with other agencies and adopting the best practices of civilian law enforcement groups. By seizing the opportunity provided by Congress, the military may realize its goal of sustaining a robust fighting force that is free from the influence of criminal street gangs.

So what's it going to take?

References:
Eyler, G. (2009). Gangs in the Military, 118 Yale L. J. 696. (thanks to Court-Martial Trial Practice for the link)

Flacks, M., & Wiskoff, M. F. (1999). Gangs, Extremists Groups, and the Military: Screening for Service . Retrieved November 19, 2008, from http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai

Knox, G. W. (2006). An introduction to gangs (6th ed.). Peotone, IL: New Chicago School Press.

National Defense Authorization Act. (2008). (Pub. L. No. 110-181. 122 Stat. 117). Retrieved September 30, 2008, from http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-4986

National Gang Intelligence Center. (2007). Intelligence assessment: Gang-related activity in the US armed forces increasing. Crystal City, VA: National Gang Intelligence Center.

National Gang Intelligence Center. (2009). National gang threat assessment - 2009. Washington D.C.: National Gang Intelligence Center.

U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Command [CID]. (2006). Summary Report Gang Activity Threat Assessment: A review of gang activity affecting the Army. Retrieved January 26, 2009, from http://militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/2006_CID_Report.pdf

U.S. Department of Defense. (1996, March 21). Army task force report on extremist activity. Retrieved January 19, 2009, from http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=793

G.I. Crip - The Oregon National Guard wants to send this convicted gangbanger to Iraq.

BY JAMES PITKIN

[March 4th, 2009]

More than two years ago, a well-publicized FBI report warned of gang members infiltrating the U.S. military. And while gang violence was spreading on bases, cops say returning gangsters are putting their new combat skills to deadly use in their old neighborhoods.

Now, as the military continues to suffer low recruitment approaching the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, a first lieutenant in the Oregon National Guard says he wants to take a convicted gangbanger off Portland’s streets and send him into a new combat zone—Iraq.

Police describe Levell Peters—who grew up in Northeast Portland but now lives in Vancouver, Wash.—as a longtime gang associate who’s affiliated with both the Rolling 60s and the Kerby Blocc Crips.

He’s also a private first class in the Oregon National Guard set to deploy this year with the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a letter by Lt. Michael Davis, a lawyer with the Oregon Military Department.

But the Guard faces a hurdle in deploying Peters, 22: He was convicted this year of a felony in connection with a drive-by shooting last year in North Portland. And his probation forbids him to carry a weapon—even if he’s armed by the U.S. military.

In a Feb. 10 letter to Peters’ probation officer, Davis asked that Peters’ probation be modified so he can begin training in April and deploy with his unit this summer. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Marshall Amiton is expected to rule on that request later this month.

Davis’ letter says that in Iraq, Peters will be “under the supervision of the U.S. Army and subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” and that he’ll be “completely removed from negative community influences, to wit, gang members.”

But three nationally recognized experts on gangs and the military tell WW it’s a lousy idea to send people with Peters’ history into combat.

“People are under some terrible misunderstanding that the military will change gangbangers,” says Hunter Glass, a retired police detective and private consultant. “You can’t beat blueprinted behavior out.”

Davis did not reply to repeated emails and phone calls, and Peters declined to comment.

“This is a young man who is trying to improve his life,” says Peters’ attorney, Gary Bertoni. “Certainly I would disabuse anyone of the notion that he entered the Army so he could receive training and go back to the neighborhoods.”

Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson, who investigated last year’s shooting, says Peters is known to police as a Crips associate previously involved in a drive-by outside Benson High School. Court records show convictions arrests for assault, harassment, disorderly conduct, reckless driving and other misdemeanors.

“This is not a guy you want serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere,” Simpson says. “He can’t be trusted.”

On Feb. 24, 2008, Simpson says, a house on North Commercial Avenue where Peters’ infant son was staying got shot up. The next day, Simpson says, Peters and three friends went out seeking revenge.

According to Simpson, they climbed into a 2008 Chrysler Sebring with Peters behind the wheel and drove through North Portland. They began chasing a Ford Taurus, and Peters gave his gun to a friend who opened fire, Simpson says. The Taurus returned fire and was joined by a Ford Explorer also taking shots at Peters’ Chrysler, Simpson says. The three cars drove several blocks firing on each other until police arrived.

No one was injured. But Simpson says that could change if the shooters had combat training.

“The spray-and-pray stuff they’re doing as gangbangers—that’s not what they’re doing in the military,” he says. “They’re doing precision shooting and explosives.”

When the shooting occurred, Peters had already joined the Guard. A grand jury indicted him for attempted murder and other charges on July 28, 2008, and he was arrested by U.S. marshals while training at a camp near Boise, Idaho.

On Jan. 28, a judge acquitted Peters of attempted murder but found him guilty of unlawful use of a weapon. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail with credit for time served and three years of probation.

After Davis asked for changes to Peters’ probation, Peters appeared in court Feb. 26 accompanied by his mother. Bertoni asked the judge for more time to review the Guard’s request, and a hearing was set for March 11.

Along with gang members, increasing numbers of convicted felons have found their way into the military in recent years under so-called “moral waivers” when they’re recruited.

“Obviously, it’s a huge problem,” says John Hutson, president of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce Law Center and a former Navy judge advocate general.

“The military is responsible to kill people,” he says. “It is responsible for the potential of great destruction of property. So you have to ensure that those people who are involved with that kind of activity are of the highest caliber.”

FACT: The military granted 1,605 waivers for convicted felons recruited in 2006. That same year, it kicked out 612 gays and lesbians under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3517/12274/

Verdict in gang-initiation death trial angers victim’s mother

By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes, European edition, Friday, February 27, 2009

Seth Robson / Stripes

Pvt. Bobby Morrissette, right, waits for the verdict during his court-martial Thursday at Vilseck, Germany.

VILSECK, Germany — Pvt. Bobby Morrissette’s acquittal on a voluntary manslaughter charge for his role in the 2005 gang initiation beating death of Sgt. Juwan Johnson makes a mockery of claims the Army is tough on gangs, the dead soldier’s mother said Thursday.

Johnson was badly beaten in a Gangster Disciples initiation, known as a jumping-in ceremony, near Kaiserslautern on July 3, 2005. He was found dead in his barracks room the next day.

Stephanie Cockrell reacted angrily Thursday after the military judge, Col. Timothy Grammel, announced his ruling in her son’s death.

"I’m angry, and I’m outraged that we have gangs in the military," she said. "The court system is sending a message that it’s OK."

In additional to the voluntary manslaughter charge, Morrissette was also acquitted on a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

Grammel did find Morrissette guilty of a number of other charges, including participating in gang initiation rituals, impeding an investigation, impeding a trial by court-martial and willfully disobeying a commissioned officer. He also was convicted of committing an indecent act on a female in the presence of another person and wrongful use of a controlled substance, both stemming from a separate incident.

Morrissette was sentenced to 42 months’ confinement and a bad-conduct discharge.

During the three-day trial, Cockrell and others listened to witnesses describe how up to nine gang members hit and kicked Johnson for six minutes during the initiation. She left the court in tears during testimony on his injuries, which were listed in an autopsy report.

Cockrell has attended six trials of alleged gang members involved in her son’s death.

"In my opinion, everybody who was there is equally culpable," she said.

Those involved have shown no remorse and are still gang members, she said. During Morrissette’s court-martial, for example, one of the witnesses, Airman Nicholas Sims, flashed a gang sign and referred to Morrissette as "my brother," she said.

"[The Gangster Disciples] talk about family. That’s not how they treated my son," she said.

During the court-martial, prosecutors argued that the court needed to send a message that gangs in the military would not be tolerated.

"The military rank structure meant nothing to this gang. These gang members would unquestioningly follow the orders of their governor," prosecution lawyer Greg O’Malley told the court.

Gang members sported Gangster Disciples tattoos, wore gang clothing and started fights with local nationals and members of other gangs in Kaiserslautern, he said.

However, Morrissette’s lawyers argued that the group he associated with was not a criminal enterprise and could not be characterized as a gang. They cast doubt on the integrity of prosecution witnesses, some of whom were also gang members who had lied in past statements about the case.

Morrissette, who smiled broadly after the verdict, apologized in an unsworn statement for "whatever happened to Sergeant Johnson" but made no effort to disassociate himself from the Gangster Disciples.

Cockrell said she plans to attend the trial of former Airman Rico Williams, the alleged leader of the Kaiserslautern branch of the Gangster Disciples, who is charged with second-degree murder in relation to his involvement in Johnson’s death.

Young men should get a briefing on gang activity when they join the military, she said.

"I can’t believe what was in the mind of my son when he thought about joining this gang. This was not the guy I sent to the military," she said.

"I’d warn mothers to tell their kids. They not only have to worry about the enemy at large. They have to worry about the enemy within," she said.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61005

Prosecutor: GI returned from Iraq in gang

By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, February 25, 2009

VILSECK, Germany — A soldier charged in the 2005 gang initiation beating death of Sgt. Juwan Johnson returned from an Iraq deployment as a member of the Gangster Disciples, Army prosecutors said during Pvt. Bobby Morrissette’s court-martial Tuesday.

Morrissette — one of seven servicemembers accused in Johnson’s death — is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter; conspiracy to commit aggravated assault; conduct contrary to good order and discipline; obstruction of justice, disobeying an order, indecent acts and use of a controlled substance.

Johnson died of multiple blunt force injuries on July 4, 2005, after an alleged initiation ceremony, which took place at a gazebo in a small town near Kaiserslautern.

Similar charges against Morrissette relating to Johnson’s death were withdrawn and dismissed in June 2007 because of legal concerns. The Army refiled charges against Morrissette in June 2008.

At Tuesday’s trial, government prosecutor Capt. Derrick Grace told the court that the evidence would show that Morrissette returned from Iraq as a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang.

Grace presented the court with photographs that, he said, show Gangster Disciples’ graffiti in the barracks building that Morrissette occupied at Camp Speicher, in Tikrit, when his unit — the 66th Transportation Company — was deployed there from 2004 to 2005.

Sgt. Ronald Barnhart, a former member of the 66th who lived in the same barracks as Morrissette in Iraq, told the court he saw several soldiers beating Sgt. Rodney Howell in a latrine at Camp Speicher in April 2004. Howell, who is serving six years’ confinement for his role in Johnson’s death, was jogging on the spot and grunting each time he was hit, Barnhart said.

"I took it as horseplay and walked out of the room," he said.

Another soldier stationed at Camp Speicher at that time, Sgt. John Koerner, described walking in on the same beating.

"There were six people in a circle. I saw a punch thrown," he said.

Another member of the gang, Air Force Staff Sgt. Themitrios Saroglou, told the court that he was treasurer of the Kaiserslautern branch of the Gangster Disciples at the time of Johnson’s death.

Saroglou said he joined the gang in 2004, after surviving his own jumping-in ceremony.

At the time members did not refer to themselves as the Gangster Disciples, although they participated in the gang’s rituals, such as the jumping-in ceremony, which involved members beating an initiate for six minutes inside a six pointed star marked with candles, he said.

The temperament of the gang changed after Morrissette’s unit returned to Germany from Iraq in 2005, Saroglou said.

"After the guys came back from deployment ... that’s when they started calling it the ‘Gangster Disciples,’ " he said.

The gang became more violent, he said.

"We called the gang members who came back from Iraq the ‘Young ‘Uns’. Their behavior was rowdy. They would act without thinking. The entire organization just went more negative. Drugs were used frequently. Fights would start from people looking at each other wrong or flashing gang signs," he said.

"They would say things like: ‘Aw hell no. Get up, Get the [expletive] up,’ " Saroglou said, adding that Morrissette hit and kicked Johnson many times during the ceremony.

If convicted, Morrissette faces up to 55 years’ confinement, a dishonorable discharge, reduction to private and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. The trial was scheduled to continue Wednesday.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60972

In New Mexico, an Airman is Arrested in the Killing of a Man on Lower Greenville

By Robert Wilonsky in Crime and Punishment

Tuesday, Feb. 24 2009 @ 9:17AM

KXAS-Channel 5

Marlon Alfaro

The Associated Press reports this morning that a man has been arrested in the death of Marlon Alfaro, the 23-year-old from Irving who was beaten and run over in a Lower Greenville Avenue club's parking lot on January 25. Dallas police and a certain Barking Dog had speculated in a KXAS-Channel 5 story that Alfaro's murder, which took place after an argument turned into an altercation, was gang-related. Which makes 23-year-old Frank Farias an unlikely suspect: Since August 2006, he's been a member of the 377th Medical Support Squadron out of Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he's being held till he's extradited to Dallas to face first-degree murder charges following his arrest on Friday.
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/02/in_new_mexico_an_airman_is_arr.php

B.C. man sentenced in Army Rangers bank heist

By Sara Jean Green Seattle Times staff reporter

Related

• Archive | 3 Rangers charged in Tacoma bank heist
• Archive | Tacoma bank robbed to start a crime family?

A 23-year-old British Columbia man — who aspired to a leadership role in a planned Canadian crime family — was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison today for his role in the 2006 armed robbery of a Tacoma bank that was masterminded by members of an elite Army Ranger unit based at Fort Lewis.

Tigra Robertson of Peachland, B.C., is one of five men convicted of stealing $50,000 from a Bank of America branch on South Tacoma Way on Aug. 7, 2006. The robbers — three Army Rangers stationed at Fort Lewis and two Canadian nationals — wore body armor and threatened bank employees with guns, including an AK-47 machine gun, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.

Dressed in military garb with black masks covering their faces, the men entered the bank after 5 p.m., demanded cash and fled within 90 seconds. Robertson attempted to grab money from the bank's vault but the team decided too much time had elapsed and so they left with only money stolen from tellers' drawers, federal attorneys said.

A bystander saw the men leave the bank and gave the license plate number of their getaway car to police. The car was traced to Fort Lewis, "where evidence of the crime was uncovered at the men's' barracks," wrote office spokeswoman Emily Langlie in a news release.

Robertson — who was convicted of armed bank robbery, conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and brandishing a machine gun — was sentenced to 12 ½ years in prison and five years of supervised release.

He was a trusted sidekick of Army Ranger Luke Sommer, who planned the robbery and was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison in December. Fellow Ranger Chad Palmer was sentenced to 11 years in prison, also in December.

Ranger Alex Blum and Canadian national Nathan Dunmall are scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Holding up the bank was supposed to be a first step toward starting a Canadian crime family to take on the Hell's Angels biker gang for control of the drug and firearm trade in Kelowna, about 200 miles east of Vancouver. Sommer had assigned Robertson the rank of captain in the planned criminal organization, federal attorneys said.

Robertson, who turned himself in to police six days after the robbery and later posted a $25,000 bond, was taken into custody after this morning's hearing, Langlie said. He will remain at the federal detention center in SeaTac until Bureau of Prison officials decide where to send him to serve his time, she said.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008767581_websoldier20m.html