News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2008
Contact: Special Agent Eileen Zeidler
Number: 858-616-4166

Gang Members Attempting to Shorten Rivals' Lives
Get Long Sentences

JUN 30 -- (VISTA, CA) – On June 24, 2008, Oceanside Deep Valley Crips (“DVC”) gang members Jamaal Roberts and Milton Pettis were sentenced to 56 years to life and 25 years to life respectively by Superior Court Judge Joan Weber based upon their October 2007, convictions by a jury, for conspiracy to commit murder of several rival gang members in Oceanside, CA.

Operation Shake Down began after Roberts, Pettis and other DVC gang members were identified as distributors of rock cocaine in the Oceanside area by a member of the DEA Narcotic Task Force (NTF). During the course of the investigation into the illicit activities of the DVC, it was learned that Pettis and Roberts had joined with other associates to identify and locate rival gang members affiliated with the Deep Valley Bloods (“DVB”) in an effort to murder these individuals. Roberts and another co-defendant were apprehended a short distance from a park where several DVB members were known to be congregating. At the time of the arrests the subjects were in possession of a firearm, black masks and gloves.

DEA Special Agent in Charge Ralph W. Partridge said, “The drug and gang landscape intersects in violence. The combination of veteran police experience and extensive DEA resources allowed law enforcement to take a major step in the eradication of gang activity in our community. Investigative efforts, when coupled with outstanding prosecution such as that provided by Deputy District Attorney Jon Oliphant, ensure that gangs will not hold our neighborhoods hostage.”

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