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Ex gang member gets two years on drug and gun charges
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
There is no place like home unless you are Lewis Williams.
In that case, home, which for Williams is Youngstown, is to be avoided at all costs.
The 38-year-old New Castle, Pa., man Monday was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm and, in a separate case, illegal conveyance of drugs into a detention facility.
Williams was arrested in February by city police after a traffic stop on the South Side with a loaded 9 mm handgun. At the time he was arrested, he told police he needed a gun because he used to be a member of the Crips street gang and he needs it for protection. Judge Anthony D’Apolito asked Williams about that background Monday, especially an incident when Williams was just 3 when he was shot by his father.
Williams told the judge his father was arguing with his mother, and his mother was holding him when he was grazed in the hand by a bullet fired by his father, who was also a member of the Crips.
Williams told the judge he tried to leave the gang life behind and got a good job that he loved. His attorney, Jeffrey Kurz, said that Williams excelled at his job as a plumber and his boss had nothing but praise for him.
But Williams said whenever he comes back to Youngstown, old habits die hard, and he ends up back with the same people he hung around with when he was younger.
He said when he gets out of prison he wants to get as far away from Youngstown as possible.
“I try to stay away from Youngstown,” Williams said. “I hate coming home.”
Judge D’Apolito noted that the presentence report for Williams touched on his background, that he has been to prison before and grew up with a mother addicted to crack and a father in a gang and how he often went hungry and was left to care for five siblings.
The judge said he was also impressed with Williams’ work ethic but said he had to go to prison because he can’t afford to take a chance on someone who has been in and out of jail before. He did agree, however, to just two years; prosecutors were asking for three and a half years.
“I’m rooting for you, but my job is not to hope for the best in something and risk the welfare of everyone else,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Williams said he understood.
Judge D’Apolito said he will consider early release but not until near the end of Williams’ sentence. He said he wants to make sure Williams gets treatment help in prison before he is released.
The drug case Williams pleaded guilty to was directly presented to a grand jury in May.