Man associated with LSP Gang pleads guilty

May 10, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Jeremiah McClarin

YOUNGSTOWN

One of the men indicted on state charges associated with the LSP Gang investigation has pleaded guilty to the single felony charge against him.

Jeremiah McClarin, 25, Wolosyn Circle, had been indicted on a single count of trafficking in marijuana associated with the state and federal investigation into the LSP Gang, which operated a criminal enterprise on the city’s South Side for more than 10 years.

McClarin had been scheduled to go on trial Monday, but pleaded guilty to the charge against him. He will be sentenced May 27.

Prosecutors will recommend probation for McClarin at the time of his sentencing.

Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor, said the case against McClarin was “pretty strong.” She said McClarin told police who stopped him in front of a store that he was “smoking a little [marijuana] and selling a little.” Police did find marijuana on McClarin, she said.

McLaughlin said prosecutors agreed to the recommendation for probation because McClarin is only charged with a single, lower-level felony and he has accepted responsibility for his actions.

McClarin could have faced up to a year on the felony charge.

McClarin’s record shows that he has a past conviction for aggravated riot in 2004.

McClarin is free on a $10,000 bond.

LSP stands for the streets from which the gang ran its suspected criminal enterprise — LaClede, Sherwood and Parkview avenues. Police and members of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been investigating the group for two years.

Federal authorities said the gang had operated on the South Side for nearly a decade selling drugs and guns and plotting murder.

There are a total of 31 men facing charges in connection with the gang.

There are 24 facing federal charges. Some alleged members of the gang are already in prison on other charges.