Pittsburgh Man Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Charges
WASHINGTON, ‑ A resident of Pittsburgh, Penn., has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of conspiring to conduct a racketeering enterprise, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton of the Western District of Pennsylvania announced today.
Teron Jenkins, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy before Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond.
According to the guilty plea, Jenkins participated in an enterprise, the activities of which affected interstate and foreign commerce, through a pattern of racketeering activity. The activity of the enterprise consisted of multiple acts involving robbery, attempted murder, distribution of narcotic drug controlled substances, including cocaine, heroin and crack cocaine, and acts of obstruction of justice and intimidation. Jenkins is one of 26 defendants charged in February 2010 with being members of, and conducting racketeering activity through, a criminal organization known as the Brighton Place and Northview Heights/Fineview Crips street gang that operated on the North Side of Pittsburgh. This prosecution resulted from a Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force investigation that began in 2005.
Jenkins is scheduled to be sentenced on July 12, 2011, at 10 a.m. Jenkins faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles A. Eberle and Troy Rivetti of the Western District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Kevin Rosenberg of the Criminal Division's Gang Unit.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the City of Pittsburgh Police Department, the Allegheny County Police, and the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Jenkins.
