Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Christian Turner, a/k/a “P”, 29, formerly of New Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. to 25 years in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute 280 grams of cocaine base, commonly referred to as “crack” and conspiring to violate federal gun laws. He pleaded guilty to the charges on September 2, 2015.

According to court records, the defendant and other conspirators were members of the Red Side Guerilla Brims (“RSGB”), a New Haven based street gang affiliated with the Almighty Blood Nation. Between January 2010 and August 2013, the defendant conspired to acquire more than five kilograms of crack in New Haven and to distribute it in Penobscot County and elsewhere in Maine. He and other conspirators sold it in multiple half-gram and gram amounts for $40 and $80. Drug proceeds were returned to New Haven and maintained in the gang’s “kitty” that was used to finance gang activities.

Over the same period, the defendant obtained 14 handguns through straw purchases at pawnshops in Bangor and Brewer and seven other firearms through private transactions. The defendant paid for the guns with cash and drugs. In all, over 25 firearms were illegally acquired and transported back to New Haven where they were transferred to others.

In imposing the lengthy sentence, Judge Woodcock said: “the message to those people like members of the Red Side Guerilla Brimms is this: stay away from Bangor.”

The case was investigated by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency; the New Haven Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the New Haven Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Spector and Peter Markle of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut assisted in the investigation and prosecution of the case.

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