Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that five members of the Tampa street gang “Cross-Fletcher Hot Boys” were collectively sentenced Friday to 70 years in prison plus 64 years of probation.
Dijon Johnson, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed by four years probation, after pleading guilty to racketeering, conspiracy, resisting officers with violence, and drug conspiracy charges.
Vanord Rutherford, 25, Oliver Hodges, 28, Milton Smith, 25, and Jeremiah Newsome, 26, were found guilty by a jury after a three-week trial in April and May of 2012 on charges of racketeering and conspiracy. Each was sentenced to 15 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of probation.
The gang was the focus of the Hillsborough County sheriff’s office as it dominated the drug trade in a section of north Tampa, with the gang members prosecuted through a partnership between the Office of the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit of Florida and the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.
Five other members of the gang have also been arrested. Four of those members have already been sentenced.
