Hustle Boys Gang Member Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison For Drug Trafficking Conspiracy And Witness Tampering

A 22-year-old Detroit man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for drug trafficking on Tuesday, June 4, 2013, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade announced today.

McQuade was joined in the announcement by Robert D. Foley, III, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division.

U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Duggan imposed sentence on Jeron Gaskin in federal court in Detroit. 

In November 2012, a jury found Gaskin, a member of a violent Detroit street gang known as the Hustle Boys, guilty of one count of participating in a drug conspiracy, and two counts of possession with intent to distribute illegal drugs.  On Tuesday, Gaskin also pleaded guilty to one count of witness tampering, admitting that he had threatened the life of a witness, the witness’s minor child and the child’s mother before the drug trafficking trial.  He received a sentence on the witness tampering charge of 46 months in prison concurrent to the 30-year drug trafficking sentence.

Evidence presented at trial showed that beginning in 2007 and continuing to March 2011, Gaskin, other members and associates of the Hustle Boys, and others engaged in drug trafficking by possessing marijuana for distribution and by illegally transporting thousands of OxyContin, Opana, and other controlled, prescription pain pills from Detroit to southern Ohio and West Virginia, where they sold pills out of hotel rooms and three residences they maintained in the area for drug distribution purposes.  At times, members of the conspiracy traded pills for firearms and brought some of the firearms back to Detroit.  The evidence also showed that Gaskin and other members of the conspiracy used a house on Hamburg Street in Detroit to store controlled substances including marijuana and pills, count and package pills for shipment to Ohio and West Virginia, and store firearms and cash proceeds of drug trafficking. 

Gaskin and nine other members of the conspiracy were indicted for the conspiracy offense for which Gaskin was found guilty on November 30, 2011.  The following co-defendants pleaded guilty prior to trial and were previously sentenced:

• Mark Davis was sentenced on January 29, 2013 to 155 months in federal prison.  Davis also is serving a three-year sentence in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
• William Crews was sentenced on May 6, 2013 to 50 months in federal prison.  Crews also is serving a three-year sentence in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
• Darrell Ewing was sentenced on January 28, 2013 to 180 months in federal prison.  Ewing also is serving a life sentence for murder in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
• Deonte Morris was sentenced on January 15, 2013 to 130 months in federal prison.
• Delmerey Morris was sentenced on February 26, 2013 to 144 months in federal prison.  Delmerey Morris also is serving a 35 to 60 year sentence for murder in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
• Ashley Sallad was sentenced on January 14, 2013 to 1 day of imprisonment and three years of supervised release.
• Pinkie Lewis was sentenced on January 23, 2013 to one year plus one day in federal prison.

Co-defendant Randi Fortner was recently indicted, arrested, and is facing pretrial detention and removal proceedings in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.  The drug trafficking conspiracy charge was dismissed against co-defendant William Beal following Beal’s guilty plea and sentence in a federal carjacking case.

United States Attorney Barbara McQuade stated: “Armed drug trafficking brings violent crime to our neighborhoods.  We hope that strong sentences like these can help remove these organizations from our community.”

U.S. Attorney McQaude applauded the cooperative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Violent Crime Task Force and the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Chasteen and Margaret Smith of the office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit and General Crimes Unit represented the United States at trial.  Assistant United States Attorney Jeanine Brunson assisted throughout the FBI’s lengthy investigation.