The commander of the Warren County Drug Task Force, Steve Arrasmith, said gang activity was “unusual for us down here.”
While gang activity was rare in the community, Arrasmith said, “It doesn’t shock me. We’re sandwiched between two metropolitan areas.”
Butler County complaints allege the teen charged this week has been a member of the Crips since July 2015, helped recruit for and communicate with leaders of the gang and engaged in crimes including drug trafficking, robbery and criminal damaging as a gang member.
In incidents in West Chester Twp., he is alleged to have been among at least four attackers who participated in an assault on April 18 and assisted another 16-year-old in the purchase of a .380-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun on April 13. On Jan. 15 , he allegedly beat a victim until he was paid $100.
In an affidavit justifying the search of the teen’s home in Palmera Apartment Homes in Deerfield Twp., one of the detectives involved in the Butler County investigation alleged the boy recruited for the Crips in West Chester Twp. and had been involved in a chain of illegal acts dating back several years in both counties in an affidavit for the search warrant.
Detectives alleged in an affidavit that the boy’s’ mother said her son, although claiming to be a member of the gang, actually was not.
The Crips, a Los Angeles-based street gang, have an active local chapter in Hamilton in Butler County, according to court records.
In 2015, eight other alleged members of the gang, were charged in Butler County with drug trafficking, allegedly used to fund other criminal enterprises.
RELATED: Prosecutor says gang uses drug profits to fund other criminal activity
“It is known the that the Hoover Crips established a presence in Butler County, Ohio in the 1980s for the purpose of drug distribution,” according to the search warrant affidavit filed in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
MORE: Alleged members of another street gang arrested in Butler County
The teen charged this week in Butler County was adjudicated in Warren County Juvenile Court for attempted drug trafficking, stemming from an arrest during the Butler County investigation. He completed 30 hours of community service and credited with eight days spent in Butler County Juvenile Detention Center. The rest of a 30-day detention was suspended, according to court records.
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Gang-related communications indicating exchanges with higher-ups in the Crips were found on the teen’s cellphone, according to the affidavit.
Also information from the phone alleged the teen charged and the one whom he allegedly helped obtain a gun indicated they planned to “continue what the teen “describes as a ‘war,’” according to the affidavit.
The home on Calida Way in Deerfield Twp. was searched in late April.
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Among the property seized was hand-drawn gang graffiti and two 9 millimeter rounds, according to an inventory attached to the warrant and returned on April 26.
West Chester police declined to comment.
The Warren County teen charged in the case is to return to Butler County Juvenile Court on May 17.
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