Bloods Gang Member Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison

COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that O’Dell “Teezy” Martin, age 27, of Columbia, South Carolina, was sentenced today in federal court in Columbia, South Carolina, for conspiracy to commit racketeering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Sections 1962(d) and 1963(a). United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. of Columbia sentenced Martin to 240 months’ imprisonment (20 years), followed by three years of supervised release. Martin pled guilty to this charge in April earlier this year.

Evidence presented at the change of plea and sentencing hearings established that Martin joined the Bloods street gang in 1999, when he was only 14 or 15 years old. The evidence in the case demonstrated that after Martin became a member of the gang, he participated in numerous acts of armed drug trafficking, armed robberies, and even retaliatory shootings on behalf of and for the benefit of himself and other members and associates of the Bloods Street Gang.

Martin was also held responsible for a particularly aggravated armed robbery that occurred on May 28, 2005 in the Richland Terrace apartment complex in Richland County. According to evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, Martin and other Bloods gang members stormed an apartment near Metz Road while armed with a shotgun and an AK-47 rifle. Martin and his associates demanded that the victims, one of whom was confined to a wheelchair, give up any money and drugs that the victims had in the apartment. Testimony at the sentencing hearing established that Martin and his associates removed one of the victims from his wheelchair so that they could search it and then stole the wheelchair-bound victim’s Nike Air Jordan shoes. Prior to leaving the robbery location, the robbers fired shots that struck two other victims and damaged the wheelchair belonging to the above referenced victim. The robbery case was initially investigated by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

The racketeering case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys JD Rowell, Mark C. Moore, and William Witherspoon of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.