Leader of Academy Homes Street Gang Sentenced on Federal Drug Charges

BOSTON—A Roxbury man and leader of the Academy Homes street gang was sentenced today on drug distribution charges.

Owens Brown, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. In July 2012, Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base from March 2007 through May 2011.

Brown distributed over four kilograms of crack cocaine throughout the South End, Dorchester, and Roxbury from Mach 2007 through May 2011. Additionally, Brown was the leader of the Academy Homes street gang and used his influence to enlist younger members of the gang to act as runners, distributing drugs and collecting proceeds to and from waiting customers, and running stash houses located throughout Boston. Brown supplied gang members with firearms to use in the commission of acts of violence conducted throughout Massachusetts. Furthermore, Brown’s use of young gang members was strategic as it allowed him to thwart law enforcement for over a decade. Brown’s perceived success gave him almost unbridled influence over younger gang members seeking his approval and sparked years of gun violence between rival gang members in the Roxbury and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis; Sgt. Det. Eric Bulman, of the Boston Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit; and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Cummings of Ortiz’s Gang and Organized Crime Strike Force Unit.