Gang leader sentenced to 20 years for gang-related activity in Clermont County

History was made in a Clermont County courtroom Friday when a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for gang-related offenses.

RT Raeshawn Wilson Jr. was sentenced to two decades behind bars for his involvement in crimes committed while he served as a leader of the "Get-It-Quick Gang," according to one of the prosecuting attorneys, Jason Nagel. Nagel said Wilson was the first person to be convicted of the crime of participating in criminal gang activity.

Another suspect, Jerrese Williams, pled guilty to gang-related activity later in the afternoon, Nagel said. He received an eight-year sentence.

Wilson faced a sentence of as many as 50 years for 36 gang-related charges, including the sale of drugs, theft and the use of violence around Clermont County. The prosecution said he recruited people to join the gang and sell heroin, cocaine and marijuana in the area.

Many of the charges stemmed from an armed robbery that took place June 18 at the Piccadilly Square Apartments in the Piccadilly area of Union Township, a center of operations for the gang because of drug use in the area.

The prosecution painted the picture of how Wilson joined forces with three of his recruits to rob and beat a man at the apartment complex. Wilson held a gun to the victim's head and neck area during the beating, according to the prosecution team of Nagel and Jesse Kramig.

Wilson and the three other suspects were apprehended a short time after the incident. A dive team later found the gun used in the robbery in a pond 20 miles away from the apartment complex, according to a release from the prosecutor's office.

Three days after the arrests, agents with the Clermont County Narcotics Unit served multiple warrants at the Piccadilly Square apartment complex.

Investigators say several members of the gang were staying in apartments at the complex and using them as a base of operations for selling drugs in the region. The apartment complex is on the border of Clermont County and Hamilton County, making it attractive to the gang members, Nagel said.

The gang, a regional offshoot of the Bloods, first surfaced in Union Township and the Clermont County area in April 2012. Nagel said the Get-It-Quick Gang originated in Cincinnati and decided to move into the area to sell drugs.

Other members of the gang have will be tried in the future, according to Nagel.