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Press Release

Native Mob Member Sentenced For Murder

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota


MINNEAPOLIS— Late this afternoon in federal court, a member of the Native Mob street gang was sentenced to 516 months in federal prison for shooting and killing fellow gang member Jeremee Kraskey. United States District Court Judge John R. Tunheim sentenced Shaun Michael Martinez, also known as Tinez, on one count of murder resulting from carrying and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Since the federal justice system does not utilize parole, Martinez will serve virtually his entire sentence behind bars.

On July 19, 2012, Martinez was charged with the crime by way of a superseding indictment. He pleaded guilty on December 21, 2012. In his plea agreement, Martinez admitted that on February 26, 2011, he killed Kraskey to prevent him from offering law enforcement information about the Native Mob’s criminal activities, which were, at the time, the subject of a multi-jurisdictional investigation. Martinez specifically admitted driving Kraskey to a residence in the 3500 block of 14th Avenue South in Minneapolis, where he shot Kraskey three times, fatally wounding him.

The Native Mob is a regional criminal gang that originated in Minneapolis in the early 1990s. Members routinely engage in drug trafficking, assault, robbery, and murder. Membership is estimated at 200, with new members, including juveniles, regularly recruited from communities with large, young, male, Native American populations. Association with the gang is often signified by wearing red and black clothing or sporting gang-related tattoos.

Martinez was part of a federal case filed against 25 members of the Native Mob, many of whom were charged with violating the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). That law prohibits conspiring to conduct illegal activity through a criminal enterprise—in this instance, the Native Mob—in an effort to preserve, protect, promote, and enhance the enterprise’s power, territory, and financial gains.

To that end, members of the Native Mob distributed illegal drugs, from crack cocaine to ecstasy. They also provided monetary support to members, including those incarcerated; shared with one another police reports, victim statements, and other case discovery; hindered or obstructed officials from identifying or apprehending those wanted by the law; and intimidated witnesses to gang crime. Moreover, they maintained and circulated firearms for gang use and committed acts of violence, including murder, against individuals associated with rival gangs.

This case was the result of a long-term, cross-jurisdictional investigation conducted by numerous local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement officers dedicated to making Minnesota’s streets and communities safer. These agencies included representatives from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs; the FBI-funded Headwaters Safe Trails Task Force; the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force; the Minnesota Department of Corrections; the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office; the Mille Lacs Tribal Police Department; the Bemidji Police Department; and the Minneapolis Police Department. These investigators were assisted by those from—in alphabetical order—the Becker County Sheriff’s Office, the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office, the Carlton County Attorney’s Office, the Cass County Attorney’s Office, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office of Wisconsin, the Duluth Police Department, the Fon du Lac Tribal Police Department, the Fridley Police Department, the Itasca County Sheriff’s Department, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office, the Leech Lake Tribal Police Department, the LCO Reservation Police Department, the Lower Sioux Tribal Police Department, the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Mille Lacs County Attorney’s Office, the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office, the New Brighton Police Department, the North Central Drug Task Force, the Prior Lake Police Department, the Red Lake Tribal Police Department, the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office, Richfield Police Department, the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Paul Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Minneapolis Violent Offender Task Force, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and the White Earth Tribal Police Department.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew R. Winter and Steven L. Schleicher.

 

 

Updated April 30, 2015