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Man enters guilty plea in federal gang case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
One of 23 men charged with a litany of crimes in 2011 for being a member of a violent South Side street gang entered a guilty plea Friday in federal court.
Terrance Machen Jr., 22, entered a plea of guilty to being a member of the LSP street gang before U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio Judge Donald Nugent. His sentencing is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 23.
It will be the second time he will be sentenced on the charges.
Machen was found guilty of violating the Racketering and Corrupt Organizations act by a federal jury in 2012 and was sentenced in October 2012 but he appealed, and his sentence and conviction were vacated by the U.S. Court Of Appeals. The case was remanded back to the district court.
Machen was charged in federal court under the Racketering and Corrupt Influencing Organizations Act, or RICO, along with the other 22 people, for being a part of the gang from Jan. 1, 2003, to March 2011.
The RICO indictment said the gang and its members sold cocaine, heroin and weapons and participated in several shootings and assaults.
Several members of the gang already have pleaded guilty or were convicted of taking part in the gang’s crimes in trials.
An indictment purports that Machen was a part of the gang and also participated in several crimes.
The indictment said that Machen was one of three people who beat a man at a Canfield Road intersection in September 2003 and also participated in shootings against three rival gangs with several other LSP members between Jan. 1, 2003, and March 15, 2011.
The indictment also said that at one point, Machen possessed a .25-caliber handgun, and in July 2007, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and had marijuana with him at a Glenwood Avenue gas station.
He also is accused of threatening a witness in the federal case in February 2008, also on Glenwood Avenue and being in a car with three other gang members at Vindicator Square and West Federal Street in March 2008 with four firearms.
According to the indictment, LSP stands for the streets from which the gang ran its suspected criminal enterprise — LaClede, Sherwood, Parkview and Princeton avenues. Gang members also used websites such as MySpace and made rap songs detailing or glorifying gang activity, according to the indictment.