Authorities have arrested seven fugitives indicted in cases tied to a gang and a violent crime crackdown, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The Little Rock office identified the seven people as fugitives last month and said they were among 49 defendants listed in 13 federal indictments and two complaints.
At a Feb. 22 news conference, U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland said 21 of the 49 defendants were arrested that morning in a wide-ranging operation.
"Today's operation is a victory over gun, gang and drug violence," he said then.
That day, the office also said nine of the 49 defendants were fugitives.
Chris Givens, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Monday that seven of those fugitives have since been taken into custody.
Zachary Charles Jordan and Kenya Davis, two of the 49 defendants, remain fugitives, according to Givens.
Givens identified the seven fugitives now in custody as Donald Lee Young, Dewquan Marquis Johns, Dennis Ramon Camp, Bryant Michael Jones, Abraham Martin Ramirez-Garcia, Felipe De Jesus Heredia-Veloz and Byron Davis Warrington.
It was not known Monday afternoon when the seven fugitives were apprehended. Their arrest reports were not immediately available Monday afternoon.
Four of the seven arrested fugitives were listed on the Pulaski County jail's inmate roster as of Monday afternoon.
Jones, one of the seven fugitives now in custody, was arrested in South Carolina and has been arraigned in federal court, according to Givens. He said the process to extradite Jones to Arkansas has begun.
Federal court documents show Jones requested that his detention hearing be held in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Johns, Camp and Young are tied to the indictment of Clifton Thomas, who the U.S. attorney's office identified as a founder of the Bloods-affiliated gang Real Hustlers Incorporated.
The gang started as the Monroe Street Hustlers but changed its name to Real Hustlers Incorporated "due to mounting and unwanted attention from" Little Rock police, the office said in a statement. The gang has ties to numerous shootings in Little Rock that killed innocent victims and wounded children.
Three other arrested fugitives -- Ramirez-Garcia, Warrington and Heredia-Veloz -- are tied to the indictment of Robert Carroll Turpin III, the office said. The U.S. attorney's office said in a statement that Turpin headed a drug-trafficking organization, and an investigation revealed that he was distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
"Turpin was found to be importing pharmaceutical drugs from India for illicit distribution, and during the course of the conspiracy more than 150,000 pills were obtained and distributed," according to the release.
The indictment related to Clifton Thomas was the result of an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Givens said. While investigating the case, authorities found gang ties and enlisted the help of the GET Rock task force, he said. The acronym stands for Gang Enforcement Team.
The task force had some type of involvement in all of the cases tied to the 49 defendants, he said. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the task force after a July mass shooting at a downtown Little Rock nightclub left 28 people injured, 25 by gunfire.
Davis, one of the two fugitives not yet in custody, was indicted in a case with Chris Alexander, whom the U.S. attorney's office in Little Rock identified as a member of the Wolfe Street Crips. The office, in a statement, described Davis as a "fellow gang member."
Both Alexander and Davis face multiple federal charges related to drugs and guns.
Givens said the Feb. 22 announcement did not signal the end of the task force, and the group is still working to dismantle gangs.
Metro on 03/27/2018