A March jury trial has been set for a man who police accuse of having an affiliation with the Crips gang. The man was charged last month with running a drug-dealing operation in downtown Westminster.
Jason Davis has been held without bond since his Nov. 6 arrest. A Westminster Police officer said fentanyl and cocaine were found in Davis’s car during a Route 140 traffic stop in Finksburg.
A Westminster Police officer wrote in an arrest report that Davis had a history of drug dealing, “domestic incidents” and “affiliation with the Crips gang.”
A lawyer for Davis did not return a request for comment.
Carroll County prosecutor Liz Camuti, who is also the county’s point person for the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network initiative, said she would not comment on the Davis case. Public documents available for the case, including a list of evidence sent to Carroll County prosecutors, do not show anything gang-related, except for the officer’s original comment.
The Westminster Police Department, which recently got a new chief, has not responded to requests for comment about regional gang activity. The city’s mayor and council president had limited knowledge of Davis’ case and had somewhat different opinions on the topic of gangs.
“They are here. You can’t hide the fact that gangs are operating, not only in Westminster or Carroll County,” said Mayor Mona Becker shortly after Davis’ arrest.
Nevertheless, she added: “This is one of the first issues we have had with a gang member for quite some time. … I don’t think they are a major problem in the city, but they are here.”
When told about the claim that Davis has Crips affiliation, Common Council President Tony Chiavacci, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said: “That’s surprising to me.” He said he has not heard about any gang presence in the city.
“Talking to our police department, they just really are not seeing that type of activity at all,” Chiavacci said, though he acknowledged “we certainly have folks who come into the community from time to time.”
Regarding drugs, Chiavacci said Westminster mostly sees people buying them in Baltimore, not locally.
“We have been very proficient in making arrests, and the word is out there that it’s just not a very friendly place” for drug dealing, he said.
The presence of the Crips has occasionally cropped up in the region. In 2022, the leader of the Eight Tray Gangster Crips in Baltimore was sentenced to 37 years in prison for drugs and racketeering. A man killed in the mass shooting of a vehicle on Towson’s Loch Raven Boulevard last year was a Crips member, FOX45 reported.
A Gaithersburg man who said he was a prior member of the Rollin 30s Crips was charged in the spraying of gang graffiti at the Silver Spring Civic Center in 2021. He was found guilty last year of violating his probation.
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