OAKLAND — Federal prosecutors right here have filed gun possession costs in opposition to an East Bay man who can also be suspected of involvement in a theft crew made up of gang members, court docket information present.
Ray Gilbert, 25, was charged final month with being a felon in possession of a firearm discovered throughout a search of an Oakland residence the place he and two others lived, court docket information present. The search was predated by a police investigation that centered on Gilbert’s personal Instagram posts, largely selfies of him possessing weapons, flashing money, and making threats in the direction of a rival gang, based on federal prosecutors.
Gilbert additionally faces costs in 4 separate prosecutions in Alameda County — he’s charged with two parole violations, retail theft for allegedly stealing 1000’s in merchandise East Bay shops, and firearms possession, court docket information present. Prosecutors have cited his suspected involvement in a “Case Gang theft crew” that was lively all through 2023 as a motive to maintain him jailed whereas the federal case is pending, however he hasn’t been charged in reference to the armed theft spree.
A decide is about to rule on the movement to jail Gilbert at a Sept. 12 court docket listening to.
A evaluate of investigations tied to Gilbert point out that he’s been a significant regulation enforcement goal in violent crime investigations since at the least 2020. In every occasion, although, police have been unable to search out sufficient proof to justify charging Gilbert or his associates with the extra critical costs.
Prosecutors describe Gilbert as “at the least” an affiliate of the Case Gang, an Oakland gang that has had a bloody, decades-long rivalry with one other gang often known as Stubby/ENT. Oakland police investigators began monitoring Gilbert’s Instagram, @Stains—3k0, and took screenshots of images and movies that have been later used to justify the search of his dwelling, based on court docket information.
Police have been additionally investigating Gilbert for suspected involvement robberies relationship again to at the least March, when a person who received cash on the Livermore on line casino was adopted dwelling and robbed, based on federal prosecutors. He’s additionally one in every of 4 males suspected in a string of armed robberies in Oakland in July and August, together with one other man who was not too long ago charged with possessing a firearm at an unlawful on line casino in Oakland.
However authorities say that Gilbert has been a significant regulation enforcement goal since at the least 2020, when his telephone was wiretapped — together with six different suspects Case Gang associates — as a part of a joint police investigation into shootings in Oakland and San Pablo, authorities say. No costs have been ever filed in opposition to Gilbert or the 5 others, and the capturing investigations stay open.
Each gangs tied up in main Antioch police scandal
Each the Case and Stubby/ENT gangs have been the topic of main federal and state investigations for years which have now been referred to as into query by alleged widespread police misconduct.
A 2021 process power investigation and wiretap that centered on each gangs, dubbed Operation Windstar, was disrupted when police found an Antioch officer allegedly referred to as one of many wiretap targets and mislabeled the telephone name as non pertinent. The officer, Timothy Manly-Williams, now faces federal and state costs, together with greater than a dozen present and former Antioch and Pittsburg cops.
A homicide case involving 4 alleged ENT members from March 2021 not too long ago hit a significant snag when it was revealed that a number of Antioch law enforcement officials who investigated the case have been additionally sending racist texts and memes, together with communications that particularly referenced a few of the defendants.
In the meantime, in Alameda County, prosecutors inexplicably dropped tried homicide costs in opposition to 4 suspected Case Gang members and associates who have been investigated as a part of Operation Windstar. The defendants, had been jailed since early 2021, and in March 2023, a decide held all of them to reply on costs of tried homicide, a number of counts of assault, and gun possession.
However then, on April 20, 2023, an Alameda County prosecutor moved to dismiss your complete case, stating solely that the transfer was being made “within the pursuits of justice,” with out elaboration. Simply three days earlier, although, Ali’s lawyer filed a movement for discovery that mentioned Oakland police Det. Alexander Schmarzo admitted he’d labored carefully with Antioch officers who have been later implicated within the the racist texting scandal to be able to establish the 4 males as capturing suspects.
