Richland County Sheriff: Marines Were Here to Recruit Gang Members

WLTX-TV Video Report

By WLTX-TV Columbia

RICHLAND COUNTY, SC -- Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says a group of Marines did come to Columbia to recruit young gang members. Lott held a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Twenty-two year-old Jermel Matthias, 20-year-old Shavon Striggles, 20-year-old Marcus Lofton, and 20-year-old Carlos Downing were all arrested August 16, after deputies say the men were holding a gang meeting at the Pine Grove Community Center. The Marines were all stationed at the Air Corps Station in Beaufort.

Lott says he held the press conference because some members of the community had told his department that the Marines were not there to do the work of gangs. Lott says some had tried to say the men were there just to recruit for the military.

But Lott says that's not true. He says his officers, working with the Marine Corp, discovered a computer at the Air Corp Station which had incriminating evidence. Lott says it contained photos of the Marines dressed in Crip gang colors, flashing gang signs, and holding weapons. He says it also included pictures of the men with some of the teens deputies suspect the men had contacted here in Columbia.

"If we had not gotten photographs we could not be able to prove they were up here previously," Lott says. "Photographs really helped us out."

According to Lott, the meeting they broke up was actually the fourth between the Marines and local teens. Lott says the three others meetings took place outside Columbia High School, near Frankie's Fun Park, and at a home in the Pine Valley Community.

Lott says the teens got involved in gangs after contacting a Crip leader in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Investigators believe the Florida man then contacted the four Marines, and they in turn came to Columbia to talk to the teens about the organization.

Lott says Striggles was the leader of the recruitment effort.

Lott says he's working with the solicitor's office to see if additional charges will be filed. Deputies are also doing gang presentations in schools and churches to educate the community about gangs.

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