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Three take pleas in Firehouse gang racketeering case

Palm Beach Post - 5/21/2020

WEST PALM BEACH -- In announcing racketeering charges last year against 14 "little terrorists" involved in a violent central Palm Beach County gang, sheriff's authorities made a point to highlight four murders for which they believed the gang was responsible.

Those murders between 2015 and 2018 were further evidence, authorities argued, of a criminal organization, a street gang called the Firehouse Clique.

Nearly one year later, all but one of those homicides have disappeared from the charging documents, meaning that although the charges of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering have not changed, the evidence the state plans to use to prove those charges has.

The state now is relying on everything from trespassing and drug sales to shootings and arson as evidence of the men working together to further their criminal enterprise.

Additionally, three of the suspected Firehouse members have accepted plea deals. As a result, Devonte Igwenagu, 20, and Deandre Burgess, 26, will serve five-year prison sentences, and Rashar Henry, 21, will serve 3 1/2 years -- a fraction of the decades of prison time each faced.

What's more, none of the plea agreements came with special conditions, such as having to testify against fellow gang members.

Neither sheriff's authorities nor the State Attorney's Office would talk about either the pleas or revisions to the charging documents, citing open investigations. The original prosecutor handling the proceeding, Adriana Lopez, left the State Attorney's Office in August. Neither Lopez nor Assistant State Attorney Diva O'Bryan, the new prosecutor, would comment.

The racketeering cases against 10 other suspected Firehouse members are scheduled to go before a judge in July for a status check, court records show. The 14th man, Devonte White, hasn't been formally charged. He is serving a life sentence for the May 2014 killing of 18-month-old I'zarion Colin.

<style> .img-100{ width: 100% !important; padding:0 !important; margin: 0 0 5px 0 !important; } .img-100 img{ margin-bottom:5px !important; } .img-100-caption{ font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important; font-size:.8em !important; line-height:110% !important; text-align: left; margin: 0!important; padding: 0!important; } </style> Circuit Judge Joseph Marx talks with a group of attorneys representing men in the "Firehouse Clique" Friday, August 23, 2019. [LANNIS WATERS/palmbeachpost.com] So what prompted the changes?

Igwenagu's attorney, Robert Gershman, suspects the state was reluctant to turn over documents in still-open criminal investigations.

Meanwhile, Michael Levine -- a national authority on RICO, or racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations, cases -- speculated that the state may be homing in on only the most solid evidence of a criminal enterprise. He added that individual gang members later could face homicide charges separate from the racketeering case.

To attorney Steven Gomberg, it's further evidence of what he views as an overreaching case against a leaderless group of neighborhood men.

"The essential craziness of this case is seen very clearly if you watch the sheriff's dog-and-pony show ... and then compare it to what was actually charged," Gomberg said.

The charges From the start, despite charging documents outlining that half of the arrested Firehouse members were involved in at least one and as many as three Palm Beach County killings, authorities pursued a charge of conspiracy to commit murder only against Igwenagu.

<style> .img-left{ width: 200px; float:left; padding:0; margin: 0 15px 05px 0; } .img-left img{ margin-bottom:5px; } .img-left-caption{ font-family:Roboto Condensed,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Roboto,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:.9em !important; line-height:110% !important; text-align: left; margin: 0!important; padding: 0!important; } </style> Devonte Igwenagu [Photo provided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office] And when Igwenagu accepted a plea deal in February, the state dropped that charge all together.

For the other six men, authorities appeared to use their reported involvement in those killings as further evidence of their ties to the Firehouse gang and proof of racketeering, as opposed to the basis for a separate charge.

In the nearly 150-page arrest report, investigators allege that suspected Firehouse member Travis Stubbs is responsible for three homicides between 2015 and 2017, something sheriff's office Capt. Michael Wallace highlighted in a June news conference announcing the arrests.

Wallace pointed to Stubbs' mugshot displayed on a board with photos of the 13 other reported gang members and said, "You're going to hear his name a lot."

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.palmbeachpost.com/web/images/misc/1024022171+FL_PBP_+Gangs+0.JPG <style> .img-100{ width: 100% !important; padding:0 !important; margin: 0 0 5px 0 !important; } .img-100 img{ margin-bottom:5px !important; } .img-100-caption{ font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important; font-size:.8em !important; line-height:110% !important; text-align: left; margin: 0!important; padding: 0!important; } </style> PBSO Captain Michael Wallace points to a photo of Travis Stubbs during a press conference about the arrest of 14 local gang members, June 12, 2019. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com] Wallace said Stubbs, along with other Firehouse members, were behind the December 2015 killing of Andrew Dixon, the February 2017 killing of Antoine Smith and the June 2017 killing of Albert Jones.

However, the State Attorney's Office has amended the charging documents three times, and the most recent revision filed in October makes no mention of any of those three homicides.

<style> .img-left{ width: 200px; float:left; padding:0; margin: 0 15px 05px 0; } .img-left img{ margin-bottom:5px; } .img-left-caption{ font-family:Roboto Condensed,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Roboto,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:.9em !important; line-height:110% !important; text-align: left; margin: 0!important; padding: 0!important; } </style> Travis Stubbs For Jones' mother, Betty, it's yet another setback in obtaining justice for her son and in holding Stubbs responsible for the years of terror she said he's caused her family.

Albert Jones blamed Stubbs for the 2011 murder of his 17-year-old daughter, Albrisha, who was dating Stubbs at the time. That tension led to numerous shootings between the families over several years, including one in 2015 when Stubbs shot Jones in the shoulder.

"These boys need to be put away for life," Betty Jones said. "These people took away a lot of innocent lives."

Albrisha Jones' homicide remains unsolved.

>>READ MORE: A 2011 young girl's murder may have played a part in two shootings

Gomberg, who is representing Stubbs, said he's seen no evidence in the "voluminous discovery" he's received so far directly tying Stubbs to any of those cases.

Now the charging documents list only one homicide -- the July 2018 killing of rival gang associate Kerwin Richards -- as evidence of racketeering in the cases against Igwenagu, J'Lyn Wright and Johnathan Storms. Igwenagu's now-dropped charge of conspiracy to commit murder also stemmed from Richards' shooting death in West Palm Beach.

During the news conference last year, Wallace said the sheriff's office's two-year gang investigation, dubbed "Operation Prometheus," closed all four homicide cases.

However, records show otherwise. As of May, each of those investigations remains open, according to West Palm police and sheriff's office records departments.

When reached through a department spokeswoman this month, Wallace would not answer questions regarding the status of those investigations.

The changes Last year, Gershman argued that the allegations against Igwenagu were too vague, particularly in regard to the conspiracy to commit murder charge.

<style> .img-left{ width: 200px; float:left; padding:0; margin: 0 15px 05px 0; } .img-left img{ margin-bottom:5px; } .img-left-caption{ font-family:Roboto Condensed,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Roboto,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:.9em !important; line-height:110% !important; text-align: left; margin: 0!important; padding: 0!important; } </style> Kerwin Richards [Family photo] In an interview last month, he pointed out that the arrest report sums up Igwenagu's supposed role in Richards' murder in one sentence. That sentence states, in part, that "evidence recovered during the investigation" pointed to Igwenagu and fellow Firehouse members Wright and Storms as suspects, though neither Wright nor Storms faced the additional homicide-related charge that Igwenagu did.

Circuit Judge Joseph Marx agreed with Gershman, and in October he ordered the State Attorney's Office to provide a statement of particulars, meaning more details as to what exactly Igwenagu was alleged to have done.

The state never did, Gershman said, and in about three months they'd reached a plea deal.

Mayor of West Palm Beach, Keith James, speaks at a news conference in June 2019 announcing the reforming of a multi-agency violent crimes task force. [BAILEY LEFEVER/ palmbeachpost.com] Last year, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw promised that the 14 Firehouse arrests were "just the start," and named two men he was confident were involved in the August 2018 shooting outside a Palm Beach Central High School football game.

The next day Bradshaw held a news conference with local, state and federal officials to announce the restart of a multi-agency task force targeting gangs in Palm Beach County.

However, the sheriff's office has refused to answer questions about the status of that investigation, dubbed "Operation First 48."

To date, no additional racketeering charges have been filed against members of Palm Beach County-based gangs, and neither of the two men suspected in the football game shooting have been charged.

ohitchcock@pbpost.com

@ohitchcock

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