COLUMBIA, South Carolina -- United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins announced that seven gang members and associates have been sentenced in federal court following their guilty pleas to drug conspiracy charges.  United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., imposed the sentences and ordered that all seven defendants be monitored by the United States Probation Office for five to ten years after the completion of their prison sentences.

The case arose out of an investigation by the FBI-led Columbia Violent Gang Task Force into the illegal activities of members of the Gangsta Killer Bloods (“GKB”), a local chapter of the United Blood Nation street gang originating from New York.  In January 2007, 23 GKB members and associates were indicted on federal drug and firearm violations stemming from their involvement in a cocaine, crack, and marijuana distribution conspiracy.  Twenty-one of the 23 defendants charged pled guilty, and the remaining two defendants were found guilty following at trial. 

The seven defendants sentenced Thursday, all from Columbia, were:  

MAURICE JOVAN ANDREWS, a/k/a “Reese,” age 27, sentenced to 121 months imprisonment; 

CAMERON CORNELIUS HAMMOND, a/k/a “Lil Pappa,” age 24, sentenced to 120 months imprisonment; 

GLENN PLANGE MATTEER, a/k/a “Geez,”  age 22, sentenced to 132 months imprisonment; 

HASSAN L. RICHARDSON, a/k/a “Hassi,” age 26, sentenced to 240 months imprisonment; 

TIMOTHY TOWAN KELLY, a/k/a “Big Hurt,” a/k/a “Hurt,”  age 22, sentenced to 240 months imprisonment;

JAMAL G. CANZATER, a/k/a “Hood,” age 22, sentenced to 57 months imprisonment; and

MARTIN LEROY DWYER, a/k/a “Monk Man,” age 27, sentenced to 262 months imprisonment.      

Seven other defendants were previously sentenced and the remaining nine defendants are awaiting sentencing.

The case was investigated by agents of the FBI's Columbia Violent Gang Task Force as part of Project CeaseFire.  Assistant United States Attorneys Stacey D. Haynes and Jane B. Taylor handled the prosecution of the case.