Members of 4th Street Bloods Gang Handed Federal Sentences

HOUSTON—Following their pleas of guilty earlier this year, four members of the 4th Street Bloods criminal street gang have been sentenced to federal prison, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Thomas Tyler Black, 26; Jamie Lynn Finley, 30; Cameron Lee Sanford, 20; and William Hunter Sanford, 21, all of Bacliff, Texas, at a hearing in federal court in Houston this morning.

In handing down the sentences, Judge Hittner noted the more prominent leadership roles in the gang’s drug activities by Black and Finley. The court remarked that Black was the leader of the drug conspiracy and leveled a 150-month sentence for one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute crack cocaine. Finley, who pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, was also found to have played a large role in the group and was sentenced to 168 months in federal prison.

In sentencing the Sanford brothers, the court noted they were primarily drug runners for the organization and had little, if any, criminal history. As such, Cameron and William Sanford were sentenced to 37 months and 63 months, respectively, for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine.

According to investigators, the 4th Street Bloods originated in the mid 1990s in the Bayshore Area of northeastern Galveston County. The 4th Street Bloods name derived from the location of the gang’s activity, which was 4400 block of 4th Street in Bacliff, Texas. Members display their affiliation with the gang through tattoos such as: Kliff Side, 4th Street Playa, 4SP (referring to 4th Street Playa), 4th Street Blood, Playa 4 Life, MOB (referring to Member of Bloods), and Paw Prints. In 2009, the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Special Crimes Unit began targeting the 4th Street Blood gang in an effort to disrupt and dismantle the assumed new leadership of the 4th Street Bloods.

All four defendants will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The case was investigated by agents of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics Division, Galveston Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, and officers of the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark E. Donnelly and Tim S. Braley prosecuted the case.