Police arrest ten people with ties to criminal gang
March 19th, 2009 by Ana X. Ceron
Harry Lee Cooper Jr.
FORT PIERCE — Ten people with links to a long-running gang in the city are behind bars, with some facing charges that police have filed for the first time in the department’s history.
But authorities are asking the public’s help to find another two men they’ve linked to a gang operating in the city for more than a decade: Harry Lee Cooper Jr., 24, and Willie Works Jr., 22.
Police announced the arrests on Thursday, saying that investigators for the first time charged three men with threatening victims to help protect a gang leader.
Willie Works Jr.
That leader, police said, is Ned Childress, 29, who’s been at the St. Lucie County jail since August on an aggravated assault charge.
From jail Childress had been directing orders to Oliver Bell, 21; Childress’s 24-year-old girlfriend Krysty Bradley; Henry Housing, 34; Yolanda Lampkin, 40; Andravious Pride, 22; and Dujuan Warren, 27, court records show.
“They miss their general,” Childress allegedly told Lampkin during a recorded phone conversation. “The general is got to get back out there.”
Bell, Pride, Warren and Childress all face charges of intimidating witnesses to protect Childress against prosecution. Childress is also accused of directing the activities of his gang, a first-degree felony.
The charges were possible following changes to laws made by state legislators during the past year, officials said.
Bradley and Lampkin face reduced charges of witness tampering.
Three others arrested on Friday and Sunday — a 17-year-old Fort Pierce boy; Labarius Works, 23; and Brandon Cummings, 21 — are accused of other unrelated charges.
Cooper and Works have warrants out for their arrest.
All 12 are either gang members or have ties to a street gang known to have circulated in the city for more than a decade, according to police and court documents.
~ana_ceron@pbpost.com
Tags: Andravious Pride, Brandon Cummings, Dujuan Warren, gang, Harry Lee Cooper Jr., Henry Housing, Krysty Bradley, Labarius Works, Ned Childress, Oliver Bell, Willie Works Jr., witness tampering, Yolanda Lampkin
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March 19th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
those are some nasty MF’s!
March 20th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
First of all to the person or persons who called them nasty MF’s……You dont know them people!! And one of those MF’s is my baby brother!! Trust me when I tell you he is a good kid and yes he has made some very crazy mistakes!! ( as all kids do!!) He IS NOT what they are trying to make him out to be!!And I know for a fact that he wasnt carring out no damn gang orders!! The city is just doing something now because of the heat it is getting for the little boy who was killed at the bus stop last week. The fact that it made the news doesnt make the city look good!!! So they ARREST first and think about who and what they did later!! Who was the witness they was tampering with?? My family and little brother still have no idea!!! They are just holding them because some arrest will make headlines and make it seem as if they are coming down on crime!! DAMN if they have the right people or not!!! Create JOBS for those YOUNG men and stop trying to clear the bad name the city has made for itself by clearing the street with made up charges!! Kids hang out together…..does this make them a gang? I use to walk home from school and walk to dances at the center as a kid with my friends from my neighbor hood…..does that mean I was part of a gang? NO!!!! If there is a more than 2 kids standing around talking or hanging out, you say they are apart of a gang and that is not true!!! They use to have programs for the youth to get jobs and learn skills, now they have nothing but hand cuffs!! You clear the streets of one, two replace them!! The only thing the city is doing is trying to save face!! Thay cant wait until our babies turn 18 so they can send them away to jail….OUT OF SITE OUT OF MIND!!! But please know after so many years…they come home with no skills and in some cases no family……and a long arrest history and a bad background in which NO ONE will HIRE them or they cant get cleared to move out the hood because again… BAD BACKGROUND!!! They cant change there enviornment to become better people….WE WONT LET THEM!!! And to think it all started because as a kid we didnt create some programs to teach them some skills or give them a summer job to keep them busy…..STOP POINTING FINGERS AT PEOPLE YOU DONT KNOW!!!!!Find out the facts!! My brother is a very loving person and was raised by a good man who worked very hard to take care of his family!!! We all turned out very good people….Even with hanging out in the streets my brother has never Harmed anyone. He dont run around with guns and has never KILLED anyone!!Within 30 mins of talking to him you would find out that he is still that same goofy kid that has a smile that would light up a room. And his laugh would make you laugh and you wouldnt even know why your laughing!! But all in all you would be reminded that he is just a kid….Who is looking to make his know way….( not saying he way is right) and god knows sometimes we all walk the wrong way before we walk the right one….They’re kids, dumb at times.. but still kids. And you are the MF!!!!
March 21st, 2009 at 9:10 am
Hey Yolanda,
Yadda, yadda, yadda, he was a good boy..he ain’t do nutin. Give it a rest honey. And go back to school and learn how to spell!
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:51 am
Yolanda I can relate to your comments. Don’t get in a pissing contest with these rednecks. Those people will sit on the computer and spew hate all day and get you in a pissing contest with them. You have said what you have said about your brother so let that be it. Because they will sit here and argue with you all day because that is what they do.
I will be praying for your family.
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:55 am
Lastly, how many groups of white kids that we see at the mall and other places. Do you think if one of them get in a fight that the others won’t get involved? They are not classified as gangs. If kids are friends in the black neighborhood and they hang together they are considered gangs. White kids do it all of the time. They are considered buddies.