Pierce County authorities this week continued their offensive against the Hilltop Crips by filing felony charges against 22 suspected members or associates of the Tacoma street gang.
The defendants are charged with crimes ranging from conspiracy to commit burglary to leading organized crime. Prosecutors wrote in charging documents the suspected gang members and associates participated in 35 criminal episodes – mostly burglaries or attempted burglaries – between Sept. 19, 2008, and Aug. 4, 2010.
Some were arraigned Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court, where not-guilty pleas were entered on their behalf. Others are being sought on warrants.
Information generated during a February 2010 crackdown on the gang led to the new charges, court records show.
“During the investigation, several HTC members provided numerous statements outlining crimes that they and others committed,” prosecutors wrote.
The 2010 crackdown led to the convictions of more than 30 suspected members or associates of the gang, which authorities said went on a crime spree across Pierce County in 2008 and 2009 that included robberies, thefts and shootings.
One of the youngest people ever convicted of murder in Pierce County is among those charged this week.
Jamar Jay Spencer, 23, was 12 when he took part in one of Tacoma’s most notorious murders – the 2000 beating death of Erik Toews. The 30-year-old musician was attacked as he walked from his mother’s home to that of a friend Aug. 29.
The crime was shocking for its brutality, randomness and the tender ages of some of the defendants, who were between 11 and 19.
Spencer pleaded guilty to one count each of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery and was sentenced in 2002 to the custody of the state’s Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration for up to 8 1/2 years. He served less than four years and was released in January 2006.
Prosecutors now contend he participated in a Jan. 21, 2010, burglary of an apartment on South Orchard Street in Tacoma where two televisions, a laptop computer, a video-game system and other items were stolen.
Spencer is being sought on a warrant.
One of his co-defendants in the Toews’ case – Manuel Hernandez – was swept up in the 2010 crackdown on the Crips. He cooperated with authorities and received a favorable plea deal.
Other defendants in the most recent case, including a handful convicted in the original crackdown, are charged in multiple burglaries which netted thieves flat-screen TVs, video-game systems, cash, guns, drugs and other items.
An Oct. 8, 2008, burglary of a home in the 1900 block of South Sheridan was typical.
A woman told police she returned home that day to find her bathroom window forced open and her 52-inch television missing, along with a PlayStation 3 and $800 in cash.
A cooperating witness told detectives he and four other members of the Crips took part in the burglary and sold some of the property to a man named Matt Ray, court records show.
Paul Matthew Ray Jr., 33, is charged with 36 crimes in connection with the most recent cases, including one count each of conspiracy to commit burglary, leading organized crime and multiple counts of residential burglary and trafficking in stolen property.
A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
One man identified as being a member of the Crips and participating in a July 2010 burglary tied to the gang was killed by the occupant of a home he and two other people broke into April 4, 2011, court records show.
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