BOSTON - An individual identified as a member of the Orchard Park Trailblazers Gang pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to selling crack cocaine in and around Roxbury’s Orchard Gardens Housing Development.
Raymond Gaines, a/k/a “Hops," 38, of Boston, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of cocaine base within 1,000 feet of a school. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for Feb. 28, 2018.
On June 21, 2016, Gaines sold cocaine base to a cooperating witness near a school in Roxbury. Gaines is one of 12 defendants arrested and charged in June 2017 following a nearly two-year investigation into the high concentration of crime in and around the Orchard Gardens Development, the largest publically funded housing development in Roxbury, which is also adjacent to area schools and Dudley Square. According to court documents, the crime stems, in part, from the illegal activities of the members and associates of the Orchard Park Trailblazers, who allegedly have active feuds with rival gangs throughout the city that have produced numerous crimes of violence.
The charge of distribution of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of one year and no greater than 40 years in prison, a minimum of six years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $2 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Boston Police Commissioner William Evans made the announcement today.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
