TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that a Bloods gang member was sentenced
to state prison today in connection with
an August 2008 shooting investigated by
the Camden Shoot Team.
According to Director Taylor,
Mark A. Young, 21, of Camden, was sentenced
to five years in state prison, including
four years and three months of parole ineligibility
under the No Early Release Act, by Superior
Court Judge Anthony Pugliese in Camden County.
Young, a ranking member of the Bloods street
gang who formerly lived in Trenton, pleaded
guilty on March 24 to a second-degree charge
of aggravated assault.
The charge was contained
in a Feb. 4, 2009 Camden County grand jury
indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal
Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
The case was going to trial and jury selection
had started before Young entered his plea.
Deputy Attorney General Kristen Harberg
prosecuted the case and represented the
state at the sentencing hearing.
In pleading guilty, Young
admitted that he shot and wounded a man
whom he had known for years. The investigation
by the Camden Shoot Team revealed that on
Aug. 7, 2008, at approximately 12:20 a.m.,
the victim was sitting on the porch of a
friend's house in the 100 block of North
24th Street in Camden, when Young approached
him. The victim joked with Young and said
something that offended him, leading to
an angry exchange of words. Young drew a
handgun and shot the victim three times,
one round hitting the victim in the nose,
one round hitting his wrist, and the third
round going through the victim's calf. Young
then fled the scene.
The Shoot Team was immediately
dispatched to investigate the shooting.
The Shoot Team in Camden is made up of detectives
and investigators from the New Jersey State
Police, the Camden City Police Department
and the Camden County Prosecutor’s
Office.
Attorney General Dow credited
the investigators who conducted the investigation,
including Investigator Michael Dougherty
of the Camden County Prosecutor's Office,
who was lead detective; Sgt. John Polcyn
of the Camden Police Department; Detective
Carmello Villegas of the Camden Police Department;
and the following members of the New Jersey
State Police: Detective Sgt. Richard A.
Bumbera, Detective Sgt. Laurence P. Wachter,
Detective Daniel DeLucia, Detective Joseph
Loschiavo, and Detective Carlos Rodriguez.
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