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Man gets more than four years in gang case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Tawuan Gordon says he wants to take care of his two young children when he gets out of prison.
He was sentenced to 41/2 years Wednesday after pleading guilty to one count of trafficking in a counterfeit controlled substance, two counts of trafficking in cocaine, five counts of trafficking in heroin and a single count of participating in criminal gang activity.
The 19-year-old Gordon told Judge Lou A. D’Apolito he wants to better himself while in prison so he can take care of his kids.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Gordon said. “I’m going to try my best to get back on track and do what I have to do.” Prosecutors said Gordon was one of 12 members of the E Block Gang on the lower West Side who were indicted for illegal activities as gang members last May. Charges ranged from trafficking in cocaine, trafficking in heroin, felonious assault, trafficking in counterfeit controlled substances, aggravated robbery, possession of heroin and participating in a criminal gang.
The gang used Evanston Avenue as its base of operations and the streets around there, including Lakeview and Portland avenues.
As part of a plea agreement, Assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond and defense attorney J. Gerald Ingram recommended a sentence of four and a half years but could not come to a recommendation as to when he should be eligible for judicial release.
Gordon has to serve six months in prison before he can become eligible to file a request for judicial release. While he receives credit for 239 days in the county jail awaiting the resolution of his case, those days do not count for his judicial-release request.
Desmond asked Judge D’Apolito to uphold the agreement. He said prison time is necessary because already Gordon has two juvenile and two adult arrests, including the case for which he was in court Wednesday.
“This isn’t an isolated incident,” Desmond said.
Judge D’Apolito told Gordon he wants to see him get his GED while he is in prison and also to behave himself. The judge said Gordon’s behavior in prison will go a long way toward determining whether he would be granted judicial release.