It has been nearly a year since at least four males in a blue Nissan sedan drove slowly up Lakeland’s North Iowa Avenue, between Plum Street and Memorial Boulevard, opening fire on their targets on either side of the street — men ages 20 to 35.
Eleven were hit, two seriously wounded. It was the single largest shooting in Lakeland’s history and detectives say it was over a drug dispute — someone hadn’t paid a drug dealer back for the product they had bought and intended to sell.
The crime shed light on the serious and once-again increasing problem of gangs and drive-by shootings in Lakeland, along with loosely affiliated drug dealers, and groups or gangs of teenagers committing serious crimes.
First of three articles
LkldNow Senior Reporter Kimberly Moore has spent the past year investigating gang activity and shootings in Lakeland in 2023, which saw an uptick in juveniles shooting each other and, in one case, shooting a Lakeland Police officer. Moore read hundreds of pages of affidavits, requested and looked through reams of data, and interviewed key leaders in the fight against gangs in Polk County.
The case prompted Lakeland Police to join a Gang Task Force that includes every county and municipal law enforcement agency in Polk County, the State Attorney’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Law enforcement’s reaction was to band together to face the problem head-on, including adding gang enhancements to the charges of people arrested — or partnering with the U.S. Attorney’s office to bring about federal charges, which often include greater sentences.
The Gang Task Force, along with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Lakeland Police Department, has made multiple arrests for everything from teenaged car burglaries to murder. Crimes include:
- The murder of a rival gang member.
- Three teenagers allegedly involved in several drive-by shootings of homes in Lakeland.
- A known gang member allegedly conducting an attempted murder during a drive-by shooting in Lake Wales.
- Another known gang member charged with manslaughter after a stabbing in a Winter Haven Publix.
- Six gang members who law enforcement says committed at least 38 car burglaries in south of Lakeland in March and May.
- And four teenagers who allegedly burglarized 15 vehicles at three apartment complexes in South Lakeland and North Mulberry.
While the car burglaries seem minor compared to murder and attempted murder, it is during overnight car break-ins — or in many cases, simply opening unlocked doors — that Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says gang members and others find the handguns some use to commit murders and attempted murders.
A review of the records of people involved in these crimes show Florida’s “10-20-Life” statute has not been employed in any of their prior cases or in the case of the Iowa Avenue shooting. However, Florida has specific guidelines for the use of 10-20-Life. And two of the men faced federal felony charges instead of state charges.
Iowa Avenue shooting
The shooting on Iowa Avenue took place at 3:43 in the afternoon on Jan. 30 — about a minute after a school bus let off about 10 students from Carlton Palmore Elementary School. Within minutes, Lakeland Police swarmed the scene and found three of the victims, who were transported to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, just a few blocks north. Other victims were taken to the hospital in private vehicles, Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said.
“We have reason to believe this was a targeted event, that it was not a random act,” Taylor said at the time. “We did locate a (felony) quantity of marijuana at the scene, which would indicate that, obviously, there were some narcotics sales or sales of marijuana going on there at the time.”
The officers and crime scene technicians began gathering evidence and worked all night along the street that has old Southern bungalows, one-story duplexes and two-story apartment buildings.
Investigators obtained security camera video, showing the barrage of gunfire that lasted five seconds.
The hail of bullets littered the road with shell casings from at least three handguns. The spots where those shell casings fell were designated with small, yellow, numbered markers and then the shells were collected. The next morning, Taylor said the shell casings were signed out to an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who boarded a government transport plane and took them directly to a processing facility in Maryland. Testing was expedited because of the number of people who were shot.
Taylor said within three days, they had results from ATF, which processed DNA found on the shell casings, along with ballistics results – because every gun leaves its own unique marking on bullets.
The cost of testing was part of inter-agency agreements and did not add to the LPD budget.
The DNA found on the shell casings linked the suspects to the shooting.
Another break in the case also came the next morning when Lakeland Police received a tip that a car matching the description of the one used in the shooting might be parked at an address along Virginia Street, atop a tow truck. The driver had parked his truck overnight — with the blue Nissan on the flatbed — while he worked on another car.
Detectives found a shell casing lodged in the car’s exterior windshield cowl, which matched shell casings found at the scene.
The man who contacted the tow truck driver was Booker Green IV, who had been spotted the evening before wiping down the car at 3215 Baird Avenue.
“It was very fortuitous,” Taylor said. “Being cynical, they’re all like, ‘We can’t be this lucky. This can’t be the vehicle.’ And sure enough it was.”
Taylor said Green, like most criminals, didn’t do a good job of wiping fingerprints from the car.
“They think they clean the cars up, but they’re usually in a very, very big panic, in a very big hurry to get out of there,” Taylor said. “So even as good as they think they cleaned up, they don’t clean well enough, so we were able to find shell casings in the vehicle … People touch things in vehicles that they don’t realize when they’re wiping down a vehicle.”
Green, who had demanded that the tow truck driver immediately take the car to be destroyed in a scrap yard, was charged with tampering with evidence and released on $1,000 bond. LPD confiscated his phone and obtained a warrant to search it. They found text messages leading them to the suspects. Green is still awaiting trial and his next status hearing is Feb. 13.
DNA was also found inside the vehicle that lead to the suspects.
The man that rose to the top of their suspect list was Alex Greene, 21. Officials said Lakeland Police Department officers, ATF agents, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers were watching Greene at a house just outside of Eagle Lake about a week after the shooting. Taylor said they had a warrant on Greene for a burglary and they were hoping to bring him in to question him about the shooting, as well.
But Greene jumped into a white Silverado pickup truck and sped away, with Lakeland Police officers chasing him. Greene traveled north into Winter Haven, winding up on Havendale Boulevard as he weaved in and out of traffic. LPD Capt. Eric Harper, a 20-year law enforcement veteran who is in his 40s, attempted a pit maneuver, purposely running his vehicle into one side of the rear bumper of Green’s truck.
The Silverado came to a stop, but Greene got out of the truck and began running in and out of traffic, with Harper running after him. Greene left behind in the truck two Glock pistols and felony amounts of cocaine, along with felony amounts of marijuana bagged for sale. The truck also contained $2,813 in cash, while Greene had $5,833 cash on him.
Greene then ran to Andreas Family Restaurant and carjacked a 64-year-old woman’s Toyota Camry.
Harper positioned himself in front of Greene and the Camry, his service pistol pointed at Greene, as Harper ordered him to get out of the car. Instead, Greene aimed the car at Harper, who is married and has children. Harper shot Greene at least six times.
Despite the gunshot wounds, Greene pulled back out onto Havendale Boulevard, headed west for about 50 yards until the stolen car veered over the landscaped median, crossed the eastbound lanes and slammed into a vacant office building. Green was rushed to Winter Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators now say it was Greene who ordered the Iowa Avenue shooting.
In October, two of the shooting suspects — Nicholas Quinton Hanson, 31, and Marcus Dewonn Mobley, Jr., 23 — pled guilty in federal court to felony charges. Hanson was convicted of possessing ammunition, while Mobley is guilty of possessing a firearm and ammunition — both as convicted felons.
On Jan. 5, Mobley was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. Hanson received four and a half years in federal prison on Jan. 11.
Both men have lengthy criminal histories. But they were convicted of weapons charges, not attempted murder, because the victims would not fully cooperate with detectives.
Authorities also arrested Brent Johnson III, 19, on Feb. 16 for the Iowa Avenue shooting. He faced multiple drug and weapons charges, including grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent, with a gang enhancement. Investigators say he was posting comments on social media pertinent to the shooting and was seen on social media attempting to sell a Glock Model 19 9mm handgun approximately half an hour prior to the shooting.
When he was 17 years old, Johnson was charged in 2020 with armed burglary and theft of a firearm. He pled no contest but was “adjudged delinquent (with) juvenile sanctions in adult court” in July 2022.
In Nov. 2022, Johnson was arrested by Lakeland Police on a minor drug charge and another charge of grand theft of a firearm. Witnesses said someone in a car in which he was riding was waving a black firearm out the window of a red car. Johnson was found in the back seat of a red Toyota, a book bag within reach of him with a black handgun inside. The arrest affidavit states the Smith & Wesson, M&P, .40 caliber handgun was stolen. Chief Sam Taylor said LPD was handling that case, as well. He was released from the Polk County Jail for that charge on Jan. 15, just 15 days before the Iowa Avenue shooting.
Court records show that Johnson entered into a plea agreement with the state, which dropped its case against him on Dec. 12 for the Iowa Avenue shooting, but he was sentenced on Dec. 19 to a year in jail for grand theft of a firearm and was granted credit for time already served.
A 15-year-old juvenile arrested in the case, Christian Fennell, was charged with two state felonies: Possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition by a delinquent. Fennell entered into a plea agreement and is serving time in a Department of Juvenile Justice program to help rehabilitate him. A sentencing document obtained by LkldNow shows he will remain in the program until he is 21 years old.
The 2014 Gang Task Force
In 2014, Lakeland Police Department leaders investigated 18 gang-related shootings in the city, a level of violence that was new and alarming.
Lakeland Police said in 2014 that the city had 46 known gangs — four of which were regularly active — and about 300 documented gang members. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said there had more than 2,500 documented gang members and 28 active gangs countywide that year.
Mayor Howard Wiggs created the city’s first Gang Task Force to bring the community together to fight the wave of shootings, help young people already involved in gangs, and prevent others from joining gangs.
“It was very active and we were getting more participation from the neighborhoods once we started, you know, going after the problem a little bit more aggressively,” Chief Taylor said in a recent interview.
The business community, faith-based leaders, law enforcement officers and city staffers all sat together to brainstorm how to help the young people embroiled in violence.
Some innovative ideas were put to use, including creating Neighborhood Liaison Officers — police officers who patrol specific areas and get to know the residents, both law-abiding and law-breakers. The unit currently has about a dozen officers, including a homeless-liaison officer and two sergeants.
LPD’s Police Athletic League, which serves about 1,500 children annually, worked with the Gang Task Force and faith-based organizations to help guide students.
And Citrus Connection Executive Director Tom Phillips worked with county, city and education leaders to create the Safe Summer Program, which allowed students to ride the county buses for free to get to the library, community centers and summer recreation programs. The program continues. Riders must be 12-18-years-old and have a valid Polk County School I.D. or present the Summer of Safety Pass to receive a free ride. This service is available from the last day of school until summer break ends. The Polk County Sheriff’s Charities sponsored the program in 2016.
A May 2014 Ledger story reported that more than 200 men marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, chanting, “Save our boys and girls.”
In many ways, the march was an effort to show boys in the neighborhood that there are men who care about them and want to guide them — that they don’t need gangs to feel a part of something.
At the time, City Commissioner Philip Walker, who headed the task force, told The Ledger they were looking to identify 1,000 mentors to serve as role models for teens in school and through youth programs.
Walker called their first meeting “a come-to-Jesus kind of a meeting,” to talk and to say, they were going to “keep our finger on the pulse” of the community.
“Some of the things that we implemented helped bring down some resolution as we saw it, because then we began to show the community and the young folk that there is the better way,” Walker said.
He said interventions were implemented.
“So we began to talk about even youth activities and youth situations in town, (Police Athletic League) came to be more of a focal point of conversation and how we can bring young people and get them involved with more programming activities to get them in and keep them involved with things, to keep them active, engaged,” Walker said in an interview with LkldNow.
More forums were held over the years, and people gathered in the various northwest neighborhoods to perform cleanup efforts, ridding yards, lots and streets of garbage and installing some landscaping. More than 200 people turned out to clean up Seventh Street Park in 2016.
The problem began to diminish and, as the violence waned, so did the public’s interest. Statistics show that in 2017, there were no drive-by shootings anywhere in Polk County.
“The participation fell off towards the end,” Taylor said recently. “We’d be lucky to get 10 people at the meeting. The more successful you are, the less need people feel to come talk about it. So we felt it was more appropriate to turn it into a Community Engagement Task Force and maybe marry it with some other neighborhood cleanup efforts and some others in the Weed and Seed modeling.”
No report was ever written, but the Community Engagement Task Force, which formed in 2021, remains in effect.
Another pillar of the city’s efforts includes the Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency’s efforts in the Midtown district, which stretches from the Intown bypass – George Jenkins Boulevard — to Interstate 4. The area is anchored by the Medical District, Joker Marchant Stadium and Mass Market.
In 2001, the city came up with a plan to tackle the issues in Midtown, including:
- Neighborhood preservation and enhancement
- Development corridor intensification and beautification
- A mixed-use activity center
- Area-wide open space and infrastructure improvement
In the last decade, the CRA has spent nearly $6 million – or partnered with investors – on buying and refurbishing properties along or just off of Massachusetts Avenue, including The Yard on Mass, Mass Market – which includes Haus 820 and ARTiFact — Crystal’s World of Dance and The Well, a business and event space on Parker Street.
The city also foreclosed on a blighted, abandoned apartment building on Vermont Avenue and, working with Talbot House, turned it into affordable housing for low-income individuals, people with disabilities and veterans.
The city also has an infill program to help investors buy vacant lots and build homes, spending $225,000 on at least four properties. Weaving together contiguous properties that can be packaged for cohesive development in the Parker Street area is part of the city’s Land Bank program, an inventory of property that can be transformed for affordable housing.
Bayshawn Kelly
Bayshawn Kelly was just 15-years-old in 2014 when he was shot at, then hours later shot in the back and arm and, two weeks after that, shot at rival gang members himself. He was listed in court documents as a “known gang member.”
Court documents show he was on a trail of violence, making him the face of the city’s 2014 anti-gang efforts.
Kelly was airlifted to a Tampa hospital in critical condition on April 26 when he was shot in the back and arm as he stood at the intersection of Second Street and Jewel Avenue – an area police called a “hotspot for gang activity.”
On May 11, 2014, “five young people were sitting in front of 712 E. Garden St., which is three blocks east of Lakeland Regional Medical Center, and 1.75 miles east of Second and Jewel. A person used a handgun to shoot out of a passing car at the young people. The shots missed their targets.”
A witness named Kelly as the gunman, and LPD arrested Kelly and charged him with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.
“The victim advised there has been ongoing problems between the two of them for approximately one year; the victim advised he had encountered the Defendant in numerous occasions and they have engaged in several physical altercations against one another,” the 2014 affidavit states. “The Defendant has been involved in three gang-related shooting incidents within the last two weeks that are currently being investigated by the Lakeland Police Department whereas Defendant was a witness, victim or suspect.”
Police wrote in an affidavit that Kelly had been documented as a gang member since 2010 – when he was 11 years old.
Commissioner Walker said at the time that while 15 might seem young, “15 is old when they’ve already made those choices at 9 and 10.”
Walker said educating children about the perils of gang life in fourth and fifth grades is one of the keys to preventing gang violence.
“Our task is to make sure their younger minds can make some valued decisions,” Walker said in 2014.
Polk County Clerk of Courts documents show Kelly’s criminal activity did not end in May 2014.
A month later, his ankle monitor showed he was at the home of a break-in on Roselle Avenue. In March 2015, he pleaded no contest to the shooting case and the attempted burglary and was sentenced to two years in prison.
There have been other felony arrests:
- 2017 – Possession of MDMA – charge transferred.
- 2019 – Grand theft for stealing $514 and an iPhone from a student’s letterman jacket. The student’s mother talked with Kelly’s mother and got the phone back. The victim did not want to cooperate further with police and the charges were dropped. The athlete was not named in the affidavit, but Kelly’s address is listed on the affidavit as 812 Iowa Avenue North.
- January 2020 – Fleeing from police at a high speed and driving without a license. In August 2021, he pleaded no contest, was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
- December 2020 – Discharged a firearm multiple times while at ANF Gyros. Witnesses saw a driver, who was later identified as Kelly, “hanging out of the window while shooting in her general direction.” At least 30 shell casings were found, but no one was injured. Kelly was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. In August 2021, along with the above case, he pleaded no contest, was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
- May 2022 – Kelly and his brother, Anthony Grant, assaulted and robbed their cousin. They were charged with assault and battery, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and petit theft. He pleaded no contest to burglary, was found guilty and sentenced to 185 days in jail, including time served.
Kelly is now 25 years old and living in Lakeland.
Despite his early convictions using a firearm and despite his use of a gun and firing it in the December 2020 case, the 10-20-Life Statute was not invoked.
The statute states, in part, “if an offender who is convicted of the offense of possession of a firearm by a felon has a previous conviction of committing or attempting to commit a felony listed in s. 775.084(1)(b)1 (a second degree felony) and actually possessed a firearm or destructive device during the commission of the prior felony, the offender shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years.”
Statistics
Statistics from Lakeland Police show a decline in calls for service in narcotics cases in the last five years — from a three-year high of 52 to 26 this year in the Iowa Avenue neighborhood, while the number of calls for shots fired remained the same from 2022 to 2023 at two. LPD changed its reporting system last year. The number of calls for service do not indicate the number of victims.
Another center of crime in Lakeland is the area at Kettles Avenue and 10th Street — long known for drug activity and violence.
In 2019, 111 incidents involving narcotics were called into dispatch, along with 17 calls for shots fired and four calls for people being shot. In 2023 narcotics incidents dropped to 31, there were six calls for shots fired, and four calls for people were shot.
The Kettles Avenue area and surrounding neighborhood is where three teenaged boys were looking for someone to shoot and fired at a house, then one of the boys — a 13-year-old — got into a shootout with a Lakeland Police Officer in May. It’s also where two teenaged boys got into a shootout with each other in September in an unrelated incident. All five teenagers were either in a gang or associates of gang members.
According to a list provided by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, drive-by shootings continue to increase:
- 2017 – two drive by shootings in the entire county.
- 2018 – 1 in Polk County, including other municipalities, three in Lakeland.
- 2019 – 1 Polk County, including other municipalities, five in Lakeland.
- 2020 – 49 in Polk County, including other municipalities, 20 in Lakeland.
- 2021 – 38 in Polk County, including other municipalities, 29 in Lakeland.
- 2022 – 35 in Polk County, including other municipalities, 24 in Lakeland.
- 2023 – 66 in the county, including 35 in Lakeland.
Investigators say at least three of this year’s 35 drive-by shootings in Lakeland involved Bryann Charles, 17, Aryann Charles, 16, and Delfino Perez-Garcia, 14, on August 9 and September 20 and 27.
Polk County Sheriff’s Det. Donald Hermelbracht wrote in an affidavit that all three suspects would drive by the homes of two teenaged victims and shoot at them because one of the victims didn’t want to be friends with the suspects anymore. The victims’ names are redacted in the report.
“According to Victim 1, he was friends with the Charles brothers and used to get in trouble with them, but has not associated with them since he was released from probation approximately a year ago,” Hermelbracht wrote. “Victim 1 stated that the suspects have been arguing over social media with Victim 2 and attempting to get into physical altercations. Victim 1 believes he is being targeted because he is close friends with Victim 2 and it is retaliation for no longer hanging out with the suspects… Victim 1 advised … the suspects have been threatening him over text and social media and provided a picture of two of the suspects with a black handgun saying they were going to kill him.”
During a live chat on Instagram, Hermelbracht said Aryann Charles insinuated he shot at Victim 2’s house. But during an interview with deputies, Perez-Garcia allegedly admitted to the shootings at Victim 2’s house, in “retaliation for robbing” Perez-Garcia.
“It should be noted between the three cases, there were four innocent persons in each residence,” Hermelbracht wrote. “The suspects intentionally shot into occupied dwellings with the intent to kill those inside the residence … Their negligence could have injured ot killed multiple people in the neighborhood.”
The Charles brothers and Perez-Garcia are charged with four felonies and four misdemeanors, including:
- Attempted second degree murder.
- Shooting into a building.
- Using/displaying a firearm.
- Directing the discharge of a firearm.
Daquan Carey
Violent gang incidents are happening throughout Polk County.
In late November, the Polk County Violent Gang Investigative Task Force began looking for 23-year-old Daquan Carey, a documented gang member in Winter Haven. Polk County Sheriff’s Office officials said Carey’s criminal history dates back to 2014, when he was 13 years old, and includes arrests for 20 felonies, and 19 misdemeanors. He has four felony convictions.
Investigators say that on Nov. 22 at almost 3:30 a.m., Carey shot into a parked car on Third Street in the Waverly area of Lake Wales.
Terrell Burgess and his girlfriend were sitting in the car in front of a home when the investigators say that a dark-colored SUV slowly pulled up and began firing. The victims ran, but investigators found numerous shell casings around the home where the vehicle had been parked.
Carey, who was identified as the gunman, already had an active felony warrant for failure to appear on original charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of narcotics, and fleeing to elude.
Judd said Carey and at least four other gang members were involveed in another incident that had Publix shoppers fleeing in panic from a Winter Haven store in the middle of the afternoon.
Judd said Carey and the other gang members had attacked Burgess — hunted him down as Burgess tried to hide from them in the Publix. But Burges had armed himself with a paring knife and a soup can and stabbed to death a 16-year-old rival gang member during the attack.
It was the second time in 15 months that Burgess killed someone, allegedly in self-defense. In August 2022, Judd said Burgess and a group of gang members were in Lake Wales when they got into an argument over a video game. A running gun battle broke out and Burgess shot and killed Cameron Silas in self defense.
Judd said the attack in Publix and the drive-by shooting in Waverly were in retaliation for Burgess killing two rival gang members.
On Friday, Burgess was charged with manslaughter stemming from the Publix stabbing.
On Dec. 6, investigators found Carey behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry in the parking lot of the Della Vita apartment complex in Winter Haven. As detectives were taking him into custody, they say he physically fought with them in an attempt to run. Once they gained control of him and searched him, they say they found a loaded Ruger handgun, narcotics, and marijuana in his pockets. Carey was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with 11 felony counts and four misdemeanors:
- Attempted first degree murder.
- Shooting into an occupied vehicle.
- Two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
- Possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.
- Carrying a concealed firearm.
- Battery on a law enforcement officer.
- Resisting arrest with violence.
- Resisting arrest while armed.
- Possession of oxycodone.
- Failure to appear warrant.
- Possession of prescription drugs without a prescription.
- Resisting arrest without violence.
- Possession of marijuana.
- And possession of drug paraphernalia.
“This dangerous convicted felon and documented gang member has demonstrated that he has no regard for human life, and no respect for the law or law enforcement,” Judd said at the time of his arrest. “He’s proven that he will shoot anyone, anywhere, and fight with law enforcement if approached. We hope he remains locked up in prison for a long, long time.”
His case is pending in court.
La’Darion Malik Chandler
By the time he was 17 years old, La’Darion Malik Chandler already had criminal convictions for three felonies: fleeing to elude, grand theft auto, and burglary of an unoccupied car.
He was also categorized in court as a delinquent and was a known member of Lakeland’s 1600 Gang, which operates in the Crystal Grove neighborhood, — a series of small, one-story duplexes off of Reynolds Road.
On Dec. 17, 2022, when he was 18-years-old, investigators say Chandler shot John McGee in a gang dispute and then made rap videos about it, one of which he posted to his Instagram page.
“N—a tried to run
I hit his back
Though I shoot like a back
Dirt ass dead n—-as knowing where to find me at”
His song included a detail about the crime that no one besides the victim and detectives knew — McGee had been shot in the back. Judd said McGee kept saying he would tell detectives who shot him, but he died on Jan. 9, before revealing the name. McGee was a member of the Latin Kings, a well-known gang.
His other videos showed Chandler holding guns — illegal for a convicted delinquent and convicted felon.
A PCSO affidavit says Chandler and McGee were in a gang dispute.
“The defendant also has a documented history of altercations with the victim, the most recent altercation being four days prior to the homicide,” Detective Jachin Daniel Coggins wrote in the affidavit.
At the very least, PCSO Det. Rob Mateo, head of the sheriff’s office gang unit, said shooting a man would raise Chandler’s stature within the 1600 Gang.
Detectives didn’t have to look very far to find Chandler. On Feb. 22, 2023, two weeks after his 19th birthday, he was in the Polk County Jail for pulling a gun on a man walking up to Chandler’s aunt’s house on Pirate’s Way in East Lakeland.
His next court status hearing is Jan. 17.
Car burglary gang
Polk County Sheriff’s Office investigators say six gang members committed at least 38 car burglaries south of Lakeland with the intent of stealing firearms for either selling them or using them in the commission of other crimes.
The burglaries and thefts of seven firearms occurred over three nights in four different south Lakeland neighborhoods:
- March 11 — Reflections West, 13 car burglaries
- May 26 — Christina Oaks, 11 car burglaries
- May 28 — Highlands Crossing and Mission Hills, 14 burglaries
“These burglaries were committed by gang members with the sole purpose to steal guns. They specifically targeted vehicles that were most likely to have firearms within them, often looking for window and bumper stickers with pro-gun messages,” Judd said at the time of the arrests. “This is a very bad group of criminals who intended to steal guns to be used for even more crime.”
Many of the burglaries were of locked vehicles and the suspects smashed car windows to get into the vehicles. Because the suspects were primarily focused on stealing guns, they ransacked some vehicles without taking other valuables.
At least two of the seven stolen firearms were recovered immediately.
All six suspects are documented gang members and four of the six suspects have gang enhancement penalties on their charges. The PCSO is not identifying the name of the gang.
Three suspects are charged with directing the activities of a criminal gang, along with multiple gun and burglary charges, while one man is charged with attempted murder for a drive-by shooting in an unrelated case.
• Kingston Pringle, 17, of Bartow – He is charged with directing the activities of a criminal gang, two counts of armed burglary of a conveyance, possession of a machine gun, and other burglary and theft charges, along with multiple counts of criminal mischief. There is a total of 75 charges, all with a gang enhancements, which can increase his sentence if he is convicted.
During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered what they call “a disturbing video” on Pringle’s cell phone, in which Pringle was pointing and mock-firing a Glock handgun at three children, one as young as 17-months old. The Glock had been modified into an automatic firearm and had an extended magazine inserted, and Pringle was using the laser site to point the gun directly at the children.
The State Attorney’s Office of the 10th Judicial Circuit is prosecuting Pringle as an adult on these charges. Pringle has prior arrests for residential burglary, vehicle burglaries, and grand theft.
• Eldred Kellum, Jr., 23, of Lakeland – He is charged with directing the activities of a criminal gang, along with burglary, gun and grand theft charges and criminal mischief. There is a total of 63 charges all with a gang enhancement added.
Kellum’s prior criminal history includes similar charges.
Investigators say Kellum and Pringle coordinated the burglaries and the two of them carried out the Christina Oaks burglaries themselves.
• Taurean Sumrall, 22, of Bartow – He is charged with directing activities of a criminal gang, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft, and possession of several kinds of drugs and drug paraphernalia. There is a total of 8 charges, all with a gang enhancement.
Investigators say Sumrall’s primary role was to coordinate the selling of the stolen firearms.
Sumrall has been previously arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, providing a false name to a law enforcement officer, obstructing law enforcement, possession of a weapon, resisting an LEO without violence, violation of probation, and Robbery.
Three others were also charged in the vehicle burglaries.
• De’Andre Guilford, 22, of Bartow – He is charged by Bartow police with carrying a concealed firearm, which also turned out to be a firearm stolen during one of the PCSO cases. He already had a warrant arrest for failure to appear on a charge of driving while his license was suspended or revoked.
Guilford has had previous arrests on gun and drug charges.
• Javien Sterling, 19, of Lakeland – He is charged with multiple counts of burglary of a conveyance, attempted burglary of a conveyance, grand theft of a firearm, grand theft, tampering with evidence, criminal mischief, and petit theft. There is a total of 40 charges with a gang enhancement.
Investigators say Sterling was recruited by Pringle to be the driver for the group during the burglaries at Highlands Crossing and Mission Hills.
A final suspect in that case is an example of how something that seems like a minor crime can actually be a gateway to something more sinister and violent.
• Eric Denson, 18, of Riverview – Investigators say Denson was the driver during the Reflections West burglaries. He was charged by the PCSO with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. While in the Polk County Jail, Denson was found to be in possession of a knife-like weapon known as a shiv or shank, made out of a sharpened toothbrush handle, a sharpened piece of metal and a rope handle, for which he was charged with introduction of contraband in the jail.
He is also facing charges by the Lakeland Police Department for three counts of attempted first-degree murder and shooting into a dwelling.
The affidavit in that case shows that Denson was involved in a social media argument with the son of Sherell Williams. At 4:12 a.m. on March 24, investigators say security camera video shows Denson drove up near Williams’ home on Rollingsford Circle in Lakeland, got out of his black Dodge Charger, stood behind a white utility truck, turned on a light on a 9mm pistol and fired 15 or 16 shots at Williams two-story home, in which three people were asleep. No one was injured. Twenty minutes after the shooting, sheriff’s deputies stopped the black Dodge Charger on the Polk Parkway near U.S. 98 South and arrested Denson. They found a 9mm under the front driver’s seat, while a Glock magazine was located in the back seat with 10 rounds of 9 mm bullets.
Second car burglary group
On Feb. 20, PCSO deputies arrested 18-year-old Eugene Akines of Tampa, 17-year-old Cedric Upshaw of Tampa, 17-year-old Jamari Footman of Tampa, and 17-year-old Sergio Hollis of Bartow after they burglarized 15 vehicles at three Polk County apartment complexes: Avenue Apartments on South Florida Avenue and Ariva Apartments on Ariva Boulevard, both in Lakeland, and the Huntington at Sundance Apartments off Shepherd Road in Mulberry.
One of the victims reported a firearm had been stolen from his vehicle. All of the burglarized vehicles were unlocked.
Solutions
Taylor said in an interview with LkldNow that the various neighborhoods in Lakeland that are most prone to crime go through cycles. He said they key to ending the cycles is homeownership.
“When you have people that are invested in the neighborhoods, in owning homes, obviously they take care of them, Taylor said. “When you start getting a lot of rental properties and things along those lines where people are just renters, they don’t own the place they’re living in, that has a tendency to be — I used the word challenge. Challenging in the neighborhoods.”
Once a month, the City Commission has an equalization hearing when it discusses fines for property owners after city workers have cleared and cleaned properties. Fines are levied and usually run into the hundreds of dollars, although sometimes they reach into the thousands. Documents show many of the fined owners are absentee landlords or out-of-town developers and investment groups. Some are also listed as being owned by an estate, meaning the owner has died and their heirs — if there are any — are not keeping up with the property.
Taylor, a Lakeland native, is very familiar with the Iowa Avenue neighborhood. In its heyday, the area just a few blocks east was one of the epicenters of shopping in Lakeland. What was then Searstown boasted a Sears store, the S&H Green Stamp store, a Woolworth’s and a Publix. Across Memorial Boulevard was the Lakeland Mall, which opened in 1971 and had a Montgomery Ward’s, a movie theater and a Morrison’s Cafeteria, among many others.
“I can remember the first job I ever had was working at the Publix when it was called Searstown, back then on Memorial Boulevard,” Taylor said. “And we thought nothing of going out at nine o’clock at night or 10 o’clock at night — you’d go into those neighborhoods and you’re grabbing the buggies that, where people that come and buy their groceries and pushed it back to the house and then they leave the buggy on the side of the road. You know as a bag boy, we would go out there and recover all the buggies and bring them back. I mean, I was 15 years old. I never felt unsafe going into any of those neighborhoods, but that was 1979, 1980. I would not recommend that Save-a-Lot bag boys do that now.”
Taylor said the Community Redevelopment Agency is working to transition the neighborhood out of poverty and crime and one that welcomes working families.
The Dream Center and Parker Street Ministries will occasionally have a neighborhood clean-up, filling up dumpsters with detritus.
Tim Mitchell, who runs Parker Street Ministries, bought a home in the neighborhood.
“He and his wife live there. So they’re, they want to see the neighborhood in that general area improve and so they do a really good job,” Taylor said. “It was very active and we’re getting more participation from the neighborhoods.”
Parker Street Ministries uses a multi-pronged approach to help people in the neighborhood. Their first goal is to foster spiritual growth “so Christ and His Gospel are front and center.” They also support lifetime learners through educational opportunities, including after-school tutoring and summer programs. They are also working to stabilize the neighborhood by addressing the quality and availability of housing. Finally, they connect with their neighbors “so gaps in relationships and services are bridged.”
Mitchell declined several requests to talk with LkldNow about his ministry and the neighborhood.
State Attorney
Statistics show that State Attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit Brian Haas has the highest rate in the state for prosecuting juveniles. Haas said in any given year, his office prosecutes 10,000 felony cases in Polk County alone. He said he and the sheriff meet regularly to discuss the gang problem and what can be done.
“We get a case, we analyze it for the facts — what happened — the law that could apply and what’s the best thing for us to do in every case that we get,” Haas said. “When there’s a situation involving gangs or potential gang involvement that causes us to take particular notice and pay special attention to the case because of the impact that gang activity and gangs can have on a community and we’ve seen it in our community.”
Haas said they research ways to enhance charges for gang members.
“The law provides us with a lot of tools that we can use to fight the gangs and gang violence and folks that are being recruited into the gang — enhanced sentencings, longer sentences,” Haas said.
And, he said, mandatory 10-20-Life sentences are still applicable under the law.
But, he added, “over the years, there have been some changes to which laws, which statutes apply to 10-20-life,” Haas said. “We think aggravated assault is something that used to be a three-year mandatory minimum and that’s changed. But as far as shooting at someone, hitting someone, or providing a gun and hitting someone, 10-20-Life is applied.”
Haas said each case has its own set of facts that are considered, including the defendant’s age and the circumstances.
They also look to see if the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act can apply. More commonly known as RICO, state and federal law enforcement officials use it to prosecute the leaders of organized crime, like gangs and the Mafia, who participate in drug trafficking, money laundering, and/or embezzlement of funds. Those charges call for increased sentences when used.
“We will look and see what law applies,” he said. “So there are plenty of options in the law that we can use to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to fight the gang activity.”
In addition to circuit court and federal court, the office of the state prosecutor has jurisdiction across the state in cases where there’s multi-jurisdictions crimes.
“So, for example, if we have folks that are working in a gang in Polk County, but they have operations in Hillsborough County, and they’re committing crimes across the borders, going back and forth. And maybe they go into Pinellas, that potentially would be three different State Attorney’s Office — this one, Hillsborough, and Pinellas,” Haas said. “But if you have that cross jurisdictional activity, the Office of Statewide prosecutor is able to take the case — all the cases — under one prosecutor, so it’s actually a good system, but they can do RICO, as well.”
Haas pointed out that juvenile cases are treated differently than adult cases.
“The issue with juvenile cases is, first of all, there are a ton of them and you cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach to juvenile crime,” Haas said. “The 12-year-old who’s accused of a first-time shoplifting at Walmart, let’s say, he or she can’t be handled the same way as 17-year-old that’s shooting at people. Those are both children under the law, but they’re doing very different things.”
He said his office has a number of diversion programs, including teen court, which allows a defendant to be defended and prosecuted by other teens and a jury of their peers decides their punishment, under the supervision of an adult judge.
“They realize the seriousness of their activities, but it’s not something that’s going to be a conviction that stays with them the rest of their lives,” Haas said. “So you got a 12-year-old that does something stupid. If they clean their life up and they’re not doing this anymore, when they’re 17 or 18 applying for college, we don’t want that thing that happened when they were in eighth grade to hold them back.”
Haas said that for juveniles, the parents and faith leaders must step in to address the issue.
“The reality is that every child that comes to the system, we can’t just lock them up and throw away the key,” he said. “These are 12- and 13-year-old kids that I’d like to think there’s some hope for, but this is much more than just a criminal justice problem. This is a community problem.”
He said for juveniles, there is generally some kind of program to help get them turned around.
“But the success of those programs depends on the buy-in from the kids, the family and, you know, the desire to get on the right track,” Haas said. “I can’t force them to want it.”
For adults in gangs, though, Haas said he uses the full force of his office to punish them.
“We aggressively prosecute the gang members that are presented to us by law enforcement for their crimes and by doing that, we send a message to the other folks that are out there,” Haas said. “Whether they’re thinking about getting involved with a gang or they are in a gang, and they see their associates or whatever they’re called getting sent off to prison for a long, long time. That hopefully would cause them some pause and think, ‘Maybe I don’t need to do this.’ So we will use whatever tool we can to make that happen.”
Haas works with U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg of Florida’s Middle District. Handberg oversees cases stretching from Lee County north to Citrus County, across to Orlando and Jacksonville, and down to Melbourne.
“If we can’t get a sanction here that is appropriate for the best sanction at the state level, we’re going to work with our federal partners and the US Attorney for this area. Sometimes the federal system has things that they can do with a particular case that the state can’t and vice versa,” Haas said. “And so I’m not going to get caught up in you know, a territorial jurisdiction dispute. I’m going to work with the U.S. Attorney to get the best sanction we can when it comes to the gang members.”
He gave as an example a case in which gang members shoot someone, but the witnesses are too frightened to come forward, the case can be prosecuted by federal authorities for what’s considered a lesser charge.
“Some of the punishments for possession of ammunition by a convicted felon or possession of some guns are different than the state laws — and a lot of times more serious, as far as the punishment goes,” Haas said. “So in a case where you may not have witnesses to show maybe an attempted murder, but they can prove possession of ammunition, by a convicted felon or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, that may be the best we’re able to do in a particular case and that would be an example of what they can do it better job of getting a sanction.”
Amy Filjones, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, said if a defendant qualifies as an “armed career criminal,” the penalty is a mandatory minimum term of 15 years, up to life.
“To qualify as an ACC, a person must have three previous convictions by any court for a violent felony, or serious drug offense, or both,” Filjones said. “Otherwise, the penalty is a maximum term of 15 years’ imprisonment. The penalties are the same for possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, as they are for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon.”
The pair did not face attempted murder charges because Chief Taylor said the 11 victims did not want to cooperate beyond saying yes, they were there and they had been shot.
U.S. Attorney
U.S. Attorney for Florida’s Middle District Roger Handberg said his office can still prosecute cases without witnesses or victims, depending on the forensic evidence.
“We’ve got to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and there’s different ways to get there,” Handberg said. “We always want the help and support of the victims in the case … Part of what we try to do is we try to, build trust and legitimacy in the criminal justice system and the process we have and hopefully, in the process of doing that we can convince people to assist us in that endeavor.”
His office prosecutes dozens of cases each year of felons convicted of possessing a firearm or ammunition or both.
“The felon in possession violation is one that we routinely use in our violent crime cases.” Handberg said. “In a number of situations, it tends to be a charge where it’s one that we can often find the evidence where we can bring that case in federal court and there is an overlap between the charge that we can bring there and what the state can bring.”
He said his office coordinated with state attorney’s offices to brings charges that will garner the longest sentences possible.
“We’re looking to prosecute what we call the drivers of violent crime — the people who are the ones who are causing a disproportionate amount of the violence in the community and, once someone is in that category, we then look at the available tools that we have, and in many cases the felon in possession charge is that we can use. And it’s sometimes we’re able to use it in cases where we know someone may be involved in more significant criminal conduct, but maybe we don’t have the evidence on that particular criminal conduct developed yet and we can at least start with the felon in possession charge and hopefully get either the person detained or conditions of release to ensure that they don’t commit any further acts of violence.”
In the last fiscal year, Handberg’s office prosecuted more than 250 defendants and seized approximately 400 firearms — including machine gun conversion arms. Handberg’s office has also worked cases of violent gangs or groups.
Gang leader Antonio Eugene Brutton, 36, of Ocklawaha – On August 28, sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, and marijuana. Brutton pleaded guilty. This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
Tampa gang member Demetrius Lamar Rahmings, 28 – On Aug. 25, Lakeland native U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle sentenced Rahmings to 10 years in federal prison for possessing a loaded firearm as a convicted felon. Rahmings was found guilty on May 30, following a bench trial.
Eddie Winman Thomas, 32, of Lakeland – In Oct. 2022, charged with possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon. If convicted, Thomas faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. He has not yet been tried.
Francisco Cabrera, 28, of Dover — On Nov. 1, pleaded guilty to three counts of armed robbery, use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, armed carjacking, and possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon after he opened fire on ATF agents and Lakeland Police officers after a high speed chase on I-4.
Reginald Roberts, 22, of Lakeland — In March, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, Hobbs Act robbery, and brandishing and discharging firearms in the commission of crimes of violence. Roberts, along with Nathaniel Keith Carr, 28, of Riverdale and Chrishawn De’Earl Butler, 22, of Brooksville impersonated law enforcement officers by wearing black clothing, gloves, and masks, often with law enforcement insignia, or vests with “Sheriff” affixed to rob individuals they suspected of distributing narcotics. They engaged in numerous armed robberies in Polk, Hillsborough, Pasco,and Lee counties, some of which resulted in shootings. Each faces a minimum mandatory sentence ranging from 14 to 21 years, up to life, in federal prison.
White supremacist gang leader Joshua Hall, 44, of North Carolina – In August, Hall was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison for kidnapping in aid of racketeering activity and assault in aid of racketeering. Hall had pleaded guilty. Hall and several co-defendants were directed by members of the Unforgiven council to attack a victim. Hall violently assaulted the victim in a vehicle, then took the victim’s jewelry, cellphone, and tattoo equipment. The victim tried to leave the vehicle, but the doors were locked. Hall and others then drove to a home in Pasco County where they ordered the victim into a back bedroom and beat the victim and forcibly tattooed over the victim’s neck, face, and chest, including the victim’s “patch” located on the back of his neck. The victim was bloodied and dazed from the assault.
According to court documents, Hall was a member of the Unforgiven, a violent white supremacy organization that operates as an enterprise engaging in racketeering activity, and whose members and associates have committed acts and threats involving murder, kidnapping, robbery, distribution of controlled substances, and tampering with witnesses. Members often carry out acts of extreme violence to gain entry into the gang and are required to get tattoos, such as swastikas, iron crosses, and lightning bolts. The Unforgiven commit violence against perceived racial enemies as well as members of its own group who fail to abide by their constitution and bylaws. The gang often revokes membership of those who violate their code by using extreme violence to remove membership tattoos, or “patches,” which are usually in “kill zones” on members’ bodies.
Haas, Handberg, Judd and Taylor all acknowledge that victims and witnesses are often afraid to testify.
Handberg said they can use the witness protection program, which involves moving a witness or victim to another state, providing them with housing and job, and creating a new identity for them. But they cannot have any contact with anyone from their former life, including family who didn’t join them and friends.
“During the 20 years that I’ve been a federal prosecutor, I’ve never tried to quantify how many times that actually happened to me,” Handberg said of putting a witness into the protection program. “Anytime we have a victim who’s concerned, we do everything in our power to make sure that we protect them because that is one of the very important things that we do in our cases and the agencies do that, as well and they have a lot of experience in doing that. The witness protection program is one potential avenue that can be used, but agencies are also very skilled at using the other resources at their disposal to be able to ensure that the witnesses and victims are kept safe.”
Handberg’s office has also prosecuted dozens of people on RICO charges for everything from tax fraud and Ponzi schemes to computer hacking and drug trafficking.
The sheriff
Judd said his department is arresting a lot of people and is at a crossroads in terms of getting control of the gang situation.
“It takes a lot of things — it’s not just one thing,” Judd said. “It takes education, it takes community, it takes churches. But more than any of that, when the shooting starts then you’ve got to find a core of those people that are doing the most shooting, then get them arrested, Because you’ve got to break brutality, retaliatory action.”
Judd said they’re not going after people just for drive-by shootings, but to hang very serious charges with long prison sentences on them.
“It’s not just to chase the street shooters, but it’s to look at them for serious long-term racketeering type charges that will put them in jail for a long time that does not require them to testify against each other,” Judd said. “Because there’s been a lot a lot of charges brought and then of course the witnesses or the victims get or have amnesia and the case dissipates. Well, the case dissipates, they come back and retaliate to the other guys. So it’s very frustrating, a frustrating process.”
Judd said it can also be a slow process.
“Because when you turn the heat up, they just slow down or quit for a while. And then when the heat’s off, they go back to shooting again,” he said.
Judd said part of the issue is that the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice doesn’t distinguish between a kid doing something stupid and a “prolific offender with a continuous pattern of criminal conduct and/or the violent offender under 18.”
He added that the more serious offenders “must be in custody with intense training and counseling that increases with reoccuring acts in order to protect them and society. Otherwise, the criminal justice system has no alternative but to send them to the adult system for sanctions because the current juvenile system is a toal, unapologetic failure when dealing with such serious and very violent offenders.”
As for the young adults committing serious crimes: “it’s simple — the got to prison. Normal young adults don’t commit such very violent crime.”
Judd and Taylor both said it’s almost impossible to infiltrate the gangs with undercover officers because they all grew up together or have gone to school together since kindergarten.
“So traditional infiltration, like introducing a soldier, does not work. They’ve known each other forever,” Judd said. “You pray and hope you find the mother that says, hey, I would rather my son be locked up. Or an auntie, or a grandmother. So he doesn’t have any choice other than to than spend the next 30 or 40 years in prison unless he cooperates.”
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