Twenty-six Indicted After Gang Investigation, Including Two Prison Guards
by Monte McCoin
A Maryland prison guard was indicted on 35 charges, including first-degree attempted murder, after a lengthy investigation revealed he was a high-ranking member of the 8-Trey Crips street gang. Antoine Fordham was the initial target of a nearly year-long probe into organized crime in Maryland’s prison system. On November 30, 2017, state officials announced that Fordham was among 26 people who had been indicted the previous month for their roles in widespread gang activity both within and outside Maryland prisons. Guard Phillipe Jordan was indicted for a lesser role.
According to the indictment, Fordham ran a large-scale contraband delivery operation at the Jessup Correctional Institution and Maryland Correctional Institution, as well as in other facilities. He allegedly ordered a near-fatal attack on an incarcerated former Crips member who was stabbed more than 30 times but survived.
“It’s a disgrace that gangs are operating in our prisons. It’s even worse where they’re abetted by folks who have taken an oath to uphold the law,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh. “Gangs are a blight on any community in which they operate,” he added. “As members of the 8-Trey Crips gang, Fordham and Jordan betrayed their positions of trust by organizing and assisting the import of violence, drugs and other contraband into the prison system where order is paramount to keeping inmates and staff safe.”
The 24 other people indicted in the gang crackdown included the mothers of three prisoners.
Sources: www.washingtonpost.com, www.wbaltv.com
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