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Two charges against a Harrisonburg man accused of attempted murder were dropped Thursday.

A Harrisonburg District Court judge null-processed the two counts of a violent felon in possession of a weapon against 29-year-old Rafael Jimenez.

Jimenez was arrested in January for allegedly trying to kill someone at Meadowlark Drive in Harrisonburg.

Eight charges were originally filed against Jimenez in relation to the alleged gang shooting that occurred earlier this year.

He still faces charges of first degree attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

An alleged drug dealer and gang leader had several charges certified to a grand jury Tuesday.

Harrisonburg police say 24-year-old Clinton Shawn Martin Jr., also known as "Casper," traded drugs for guns.

Martin was arrested in January at the Roses department store in Harrisonburg.

Police call him a "major player" in gang activity across the state.

His next court appearance is scheduled for July.

A jury in U.S. District Court in Alexandria recently found two gang members guilty of killing a Woodbridge teen believed to be in a rival gang.

After a trial last week, the jury found Rafael Parada-Mendoza, 22, and Gabriel Hosman Perez-Amaya guilty of killing 19-year-old Christian Argueta in front of Springfield Mall on Dec. 2, 2007.

The two men were each convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, use of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death and possession of a firearm by an illegal immigrant.

According to prosecutors, Parada-Mendoza and Perez-Amaya were both illegal immigrants from El Salvador and members of the criminal street gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.

According to court documents, Parada-Mendoza and Perez-Amaya were outside of the Cerro Grande restaurant at Springfield Mall around 2 a.m. Dec. 2, 2007.

They saw Argueta and another man, who prosecutors say were members of rival gang Southside Locos, sitting in a car outside the restaurant.

Parada-Mendoza and Perez-Amaya flashed gang signs and Argueta and the other man got out of their car.

Then Parada-Mendoza pulled out a handgun and shot Argueta, according to prosecutors.

The other man was able to escape unharmed.

According to prosecutors, the men murdered Argueta to increase their position in MS-13 and recounted the killing at a gang meeting hours after Argueta was shot.
Parada-Mendoza and Perez-Amaya face a mandatory sentence of life in prison when they are sentenced in federal court Sept. 11.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.

HARRISONBURG - The case against a man who police say is the local leader of the Gangster Disciples gang will now go to a grand jury.

Clinton Shawn Martin, 24, of 31 E. Market St., Harrisonburg, was arrested on Jan. 13 on 46 charges, including drug distribution, firearms violations and gang participation.

On Tuesday, Rockingham County General District Court Judge William Heatwole certified 11 charges to be heard by a grand jury, including four felony counts of drug distribution, four felony counts of drug distribution near a school and three felony counts of possession of a firearm after being convicted of a felony.

The remaining charges were dropped by prosecutors, but could be brought back up when the other counts are presented to the grand jury July 20.

Police say the case started about two years ago and culminated in Martin's arrest earlier this year following a deal in Roses parking lot on Mason Street. During the deal, police say, Martin traded drugs for three guns.

Following the transaction, members of the Harrisonburg SWAT team moved in and arrested Martin.

During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, prosecutors presented witnesses who described four separate undercover operations involving drug transactions between an informant and Martin in a parking lot in downtown Harrisonburg.

One of the main issues raised by Martin's defense attorney, Robert Hahn, was who was with the informant during the transactions.

The informant's girlfriend accompanied him on several of the transactions, he testified. However, reports filed by investigators with the CHARGE gang task frorce didn't mention the girlfriend.

During the hearing, the officers testified that the woman was properly searched before going on the drug buys.

The possibility of the girlfriend having drugs beforehand could be part of the defense's argument that the undercover transactions were not properly controlled by police.

Augusta County parents joined the Staunton Police Department and the Office on Youth for an anti-gang forum Friday night.

"People are asking me questions constantly, you know, do we have gangs, what is the drug situation, what are the things our kids are facing?" said Staunton police officer Lisa Klein.

Klein teamed with the Office on Youth to answer these questions and help parents recognize signs of risky behavior in their kids.

"It would be great if we worked ourselves out of a job, but the only way to really approach something such as gang activity, or drug activity is to educate people," Klein said.

Diane Kellogg of the Office on Youth says teens often turn to gangs to meet their needs.

"The need for money, if they can't get a job, they can sell drugs, the need for love and support, if they're not getting it at home or they don't perceive they're getting it at home, they'll get it elsewhere," Kellogg said.

Kellogg led the panel discussion at Staunton City Hall and said keeping kids out of trouble will take a team effort, "It takes every organization, every person in this county to raise our kids, to keep our families strong and strengthen our county as a whole."

Klein says empowering parents helps them be most effective where it counts: at home.

"We need to really love our young people and be there for them, but we also need to hold them accountable," she said.

The two-hour forum also helped parents address the dangers of alcohol use and risky sexual behavior with their kids.

The Florida man who allegedly set fire to a restaurant six years ago in a motorcycle gang clash, made his first court appearance Tuesday.

William Webelir is charged with arson for an October 2003 fire at Bad Water Bill's Barbeque Barn in Strasburg.

He was arraigned in Harrisonburg's federal court and pleaded not guilty to the charge.

U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley says the fire did close to 0,000 of damage.

Dudley says Webelir is a member of the Pagan Motorcycle Club and torched the restaurant because a rival motorcycle gang was planning a bike show there.

Gang activity throughout the Historic Triangle has remained in check in recent years. Although gang-related incidents continue to surface occasionally, authorities insist the problem has not escalated as quickly as once anticipated.

Thugs sometimes migrate up from the lower Peninsula, but vigilant training and tough courts have prevented them from metastasizing here.

Law enforcement officials in York, Williamsburg and James City credit the control to joint efforts among schools, resource officers and investigators.

The local numbers have remained static for two years at 80 members among eight gangs, albeit loosely.

“We have been able to curtail gang activity by conducting early interventions when [teens] have been identified as gang members, or have been dabbling in gang activity,” said York Sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Ivey. “We have worked with parents and school administrators to get this done.”

Training community leaders on what to look for has helped, coupled with effective intervention techniques.

The Sheriff’s Office has done gang awareness training for schools, their resource officers and community agencies. Earlier this year around 200 people attended a gang awareness and satanic cult seminar held by the Sheriff’s Office.

Williamsburg and James City police also work as well with schools. Educators have been trained to spot gang symbols and their culture. A strict discipline policy bans certain types of clothing, especially bandannas.

A gang resistance training program at the middle schools advises students on how to avoid using delinquent and violent behavior to solve their problems. They’re taught how to avoid being coerced to join.

WJC Schools anticipated problems when teen boys grouped together wearing the same clothes. Gang-related graffiti was spotted on school property, books, notebooks and schoolwork.

“They saw these groups trying to intimidate each other, and on occasion, fights would occur,” said James City police gang investigator Pat Murray in an interview. They stepped in to reduce bullying, intimidation and fighting.

Murray said that in the last year gang activity inside the schools has gone down to almost nothing.

“The collaborative effort from our school resource officers and school officials has dealt and is still dealing with these problems, but now to a much lesser extent,” he said.

Sabrina Jones, program manager for the Partnership on Youth Violence that spans multiple jurisdictions on the Peninsula, agreed that gang activity in the Historic Triangle is less of a problem than in Newport News or Hampton.

Jones said there has been only one gang-related crime every five or six months in the Williamsburg area. “I am not as concerned about gang activity increasing in James City and Williamsburg as I am in the lower Peninsula,” she said.

Spillover from elsewhere is worrisome.

Last June, four men from Gloucester and West Point drove to Williamsburg for what is believed to have been a gang initiation into the Nine Teck Bloods gang. The group attempted to attack a man walking along Richmond Road near Scotland Street. (See related story inside.)

Last month, five people attacked a group of people at Riverwalk Landing in Yorktown, shouting homosexual slurs and beating two men. At least two of the defendants were linked to a group calling itself DC311, which is believed to be affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. Only one of the defendants is from Yorktown. The rest are from Gloucester and Newport News.

Although DC311 is not a traditional urban gang, any group operating under a specific name that collectively commits crimes as a primary objective of the group is classified as a gang.

Williamsburg Police are investigating whether a robbery at the America’s Best Inn on Richmond Road last December could be gang-related. Three people have been arrested, and at least one lives in Williamsburg. So far no gang charges have been filed.

Williamsburg Deputy Police Chief Dave Sloggie said that “joint jurisdiction cooperation” has been key to helping law enforcement agencies stay aware of and identify gang activity.

Murray, who works closely with Williamsburg gang investigator Lang Craighill, is connected with an FBI-sponsored task force that stays abreast of gangs on the Peninsula.

“Efforts of working with different jurisdictions like that helps us to investigate these groups,” he said. “Hopefully, if they’re coming in here and trying to stay, we can try to combat that. We’re not seeing them base here in Williamsburg, but they may drive up here and do something. That’s kind of tough to prevent.”

Murray credited Williamsburg-James City Circuit Judge Samuel Powell III for recently rendering harsh sentences to gang members as a way to deter gang activity.

“He just showed that he’s going to be tough on any kind of gang crime,” Murray said.

Ivey in York is closer to Newport News and Hampton. “We have seen a significant increase in individuals coming in from other jurisdictions and committing crimes in York County,” he said.

One tactic York is using is community patrols where deputies are encouraged to get to know the neighbors and business owners.

The Ku Klux Klan is new.

“This a home-grown type of gang that we have never dealt with before,” he said. “We are always concerned when there are individuals within our jurisdiction making choices that endanger both the law-abiding citizens of our community and even themselves.”

Ivey added, “These acts are even more abhorrent when the offenders strike out in the name of hate.”

Police are also monitoring the Hispanic gang MS-13, which has had a presence in Williamsburg and James City for the past year. MS-13 often preys on members of the Hispanic community and is prevalent in Northern Virginia.

Last June, investigators came across a suspected MS-13 gang member while investigating a theft from a motel. The man and his brother were charged with forgery and identity theft for using forged documents to obtain employment.

A search warrant filed this month at the Williamsburg-James City Courthouse revealed that Williamsburg Police were investigating a drug operation at a home on Capitol Landing Road that is believed to be linked to MS-13.

Sloggie downplayed any MS-13 presence. “Our eyes and ears are open,” he said. “We do not see it as a serious problem at this time.”

Murray said that although MS-13 is notorious for violence, activity here has been limited so far to drugs and false IDs. “Right now we are staying on top of it,” he said. “We do not want a gang such as that to take a foothold here.”

You may not see it with your own eyes, but Officer Lisa Klein with the Staunton Police Department says gang activity is quickly finding its way into the Valley.

Klein says, "Is there a problem? Sure. We've had gang related homicides, gang related crimes. And just the fact that we have young people in gangs is a problem."

She says Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County have groups working to stop the problem, but she says it's not enough.

Klein adds, "We need to see who's doing the crime, where they're doing it, when they're doing it. You can have a misconception about where something is and we want to put our resources where they are most needed."

Klein, along with members from the SAW 2010 coalition, the Waynesboro Police Department and Child Protective Services, is bringing a "missing piece" of the effort to combat gang violence to the Valley.

She says, "The idea of doing a data-driven approach is so you really know what the problem is. Not what you think the problem is, but what it really is."

The data-driven approach will be a part of a comprehensive gang model the group learned about at a national conference held by the Department of Juvenile Justice. The approach plans to unite all the groups fighting gang violence in the Valley.

Klein says, "We're not like L.A. we're not like Baltimore or Detroit. We don't want to be either, and the way we can stop that from happening is to work together."

The plan calls for a steering committee that will include policy makers from all over the Valley so each group can meet together to fight the problem as a team.

Prosecutors Can Opt To Pursue Direct Indictment In The Fall

By Pete DeLea



HARRISONBURG - Charges against four of seven Valley residents accused in more than a dozen break-ins at off-campus student housing in Harrisonburg will be dismissed - at least for now, prosecutors say.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Lou Nagy said the victims in the case were all James Madison University students who live outside the Valley during the summer, making it difficult for the cases to move forward.

However, Nagy said, when students return for the fall semester, the commonwealth's attorney's office will seek to direct-indict the suspects in Rockingham County Circuit Court.

In March, police say, the seven suspects broke into 14 residences, mostly in the Hunters Ridge complex, which caters to JMU students.

About 150 items were recovered when the suspects were arrested on March 15. Harrisonburg police arrested five men - four from Harrisonburg and one from Staunton - along with two Staunton teens.

Police say three of the seven are members of the "VA Stick Up" street gang, a part of the Bloods.

Prosecutors plan to drop charges against Jonathan Yale Artope, 19, Airik Bose Carter, 18, Aaron Michael Weaver, 19, all of Harrisonburg, and Preston Lee Moats, 19, of Staunton. All four suspects faced several felony burglary and conspiracy charges.

Charges against the remaining suspects are still scheduled to move forward.

Contact Pete DeLea at 574-6278 or pdelea@dnronline.com

Federal agents suspect a turf war among motorcycle gangs was behind a fire that destroyed a restaurant in Strasburg, Va in 2003.

A new federal indictment says the Titan Motorcycle Club had scheduled a bike show at Bad Water Bill's Barbeque Barn that year.

The government believes the Titans provide support for Hells Angels in Shenandoah County. The presence of Hell's Angels in the Strasburg area was "a matter of concern and anger" for local Pagans, according to the indictment.

Early on October 25, 2003, William Wardell Webelir- -aka: "Cosmo"- -allegedly set fire to Bad Water Bill's. The business was destroyed, causing nearly 0,000 worth of damage. The indictment was returned in Roanoke more than a month ago, but was unsealed this week following the 56-year old Florida man's arrest.

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