Eight people have been arrested in the past week as part of an operation designed to remove violent gun offenders from communities in and around West Memphis, U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer announced Thursday.
Thyer and Jeffrey Reed, resident agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, jointly made the announcement after the final two arrests in the ongoing operation that is part of the Violence Reduction Network initiative in West Memphis.
"These individuals are among the most dangerous members of their community, and removing them and their guns from the streets was a top priority," Thyer said. "I'm pleased that this coordinated effort ... is succeeding in helping make our local communities safer, while at the same time punishing those who believe gun violence is somehow acceptable."
The arrests that began June 17 and ended with the arrests Thursday of Derrico Dashawn Davis, 27, and Nakia Dejuan Moody, 41, have resulted in separate indictments, all unsealed Thursday, charging the defendants with being felons in possession of firearms. The others arrested in the targeted operation and already in custody include Marvis Ballard, 31; Patrick Barrett, 22; Orlando D. Ingram, 45; Marvin Meux, 43; and Burt Calvin Neely, 29. Nicco M. Alls, 28, was already in state custody when served with a federal arrest warrant.
All of the defendants are from West Memphis except for Davis, who is from Osceola.
In a news release, Thyer and Reed said West Memphis was selected in 2015 to participate in the initiative, joining other cities such as Little Rock; Detroit; Chicago; Flint, Mich.; Wilmington, Del.; Newark and Camden in New Jersey; and Oakland, Compton and Richmond in California.
"The VRN is a comprehensive approach to reducing violent crime in communities around the country," according to the release. "Through the VRN, the Justice Department enlists tactical and operational expertise available from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals Service; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Executive Office of United States Attorneys, the Community Oriented Policing Services Office and the Office on Violence Against Women."
Several of the defendants have made their first appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Deere, who is to hold hearings for the newly arrested defendants today. At a detention hearing Tuesday, Deere ordered Meux to remain jailed until trial.
Meux had originally been arrested by state authorities Oct. 21, after West Memphis police received a report that two people who were trying to repossess Meux's car outside his home on South 16th Street were being held at gunpoint, Thyer and Reed said.
They said Meux jumped into the driver's seat and drove off while one of the repossessors was still in the passenger seat. The release said Meux then drove back to his home, and as the employee who had been inside the vehicle got out, he saw Meux running toward him with a gun. The two repossession employees then got into their truck and drove away while Meux pointed a gun at them, it said.
Thyer and Reed said that after receiving consent to search Meux's residence, officers found an SKS assault-style rifle and a .38-caliber revolver in the home.
"Meux has been previously convicted of drug offenses and is a high-ranking member of a gang," the release said.
It said Ingram is the leader of the Gangster Disciples in West Memphis, and that he was arrested for his involvement in a shootout in that city as well as on a federal warrant.
Previous convictions associated with the eight defendants, according to the news release, include first-degree murder, second-degree battery, robbery, residential burglary, sale of a controlled substance, delivery of cocaine, possession of cocaine with the intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance, felon in possession of a firearm, aggravated assault and hindering apprehension.
As a result of the joint efforts of state and federal agencies, officers seized one assault rifle, one rifle, seven handguns and multiple extended magazines, the news release said.
Besides the agencies already mentioned, the investigation and prosecution of the case has been a coordinated effort that also included the Crittenden County sheriff's office, the Osceola Police Department, the Mississippi County sheriff's office, the Jonesboro Police Department, the Shelby County (Tenn.) Multi-Agency Gang Unit and the Memphis Police Department, according to the news release.
The gun cases are being prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys Michael Gordon and Liza Jane Brown.
Metro on 06/24/2016