Manchester "OG" Gang Member Sent Back To Federal Prison

PITTSBURGH - United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today that Corneil Jones, who has also used the aliases Robert Eric James, Eric Germaine James, Kornell Jones, Enrique Williams, Kevin Liles, Richard Nelson, Lewis Mitchell, Julian Robinson, and Germaine Jones, was sentenced on Nov. 4, 2013 for violating his federal supervised release.

According to information presented to the Court by Assistant United States Attorney Ross E. Lenhardt, Jones was out of federal Bureau of Prisons custody 22 days before he violated the supervision of United States Probation Officer Terrell Lewis. On that occasion, the defendant tested positive for drug use. Twenty-three 23 days later, on Nov. 11, 2012, Jones was leaving the Serenity Night Club on Hamilton Avenue in Pittsburgh with two convicted felons and entered an SUV. The vehicle failed to stop for Pittsburgh Police officers who observed drugs and a loaded semiautomatic .40 caliber Glock handgun with an extended length magazine being thrown from the vehicle. Police located over 100 packages of drugs, including crack cocaine, powder cocaine and marijuana, along with a cellphone and large sums of cash, as a result of the incident.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Joy Flowers Conti found that Jones had violated several conditions of his supervision including possessing drugs, associating with felons and associating with individuals engaged in criminal activity. Judge Conti sentenced Jones to 21months of federal incarceration, six months of house arrest and additional supervision as a result of the violations. Jones faces a trial on the underlying drug charges on Feb. 10, 2014, in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

The exhibits entered at the violation hearing included photographs of Jones' tattoos, which evidence his affiliation with the Manchester "OG", or "Original Gangster" street gang in the North Side of Pittsburgh. The tattoos included "Manchester" across his throat, including depictions of ammunition and firearms, "MOG" (Manchester OG), "1700" which represents his geographic area within Manchester and several references to "Killa County" and "CK" or "Crip Killer", referencing a rival gang.

Jones was originally sentenced to 69 months of imprisonment and three years supervision for illegally possessing a stolen .357 revolver on Dec. 16, 2006 and throwing a semiautomatic .40 caliber pistol during a high speed vehicle pursuit and subsequent foot chase on May 13, 2007.

The Court learned that the defendant's criminal career began at the age of 15 when he robbed a school student and continued with juvenile adjudications for giving a false name to police and dealing drugs on three different dates. Because Jones had lied about his age, he was prosecuted as an adult for felony drug charges that he committed as a juvenile. In addition to his two federal firearms convictions, his adult convictions include using a vehicle without permission, fleeing police, drug dealing, illegal firearms possession (on two different dates) and forging court documentation.