By Joe Johnson
A high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples and a leader of its parallel female organization, the Sisters of the Struggle, have been sentenced to prison Wednesday for their roles in a murderous conspiracy stemming from gang-related retribution that resulted in the deaths of three Athens.
The sentences were handed down Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Macon by Chief Judge Marc Treadwell.
All defendants had previously been found guilty. There is no parole in the federal penal system.
Philmon Deshawn Chambers, aka “Dolla Phil,” 35, was sentenced to serve two consecutive life terms.
He'd been found guilty of the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organization (RICO) Act, murder, conspiracy, and related crimes.
Co-defendant Andrea Paige Browner, aka “Drea,” 29, of Athens was sentenced to concurrent sentences of 30 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. She was found guilty of RICO conspiracy, murder, and related crimes.
“Philmon Chambers and his co-conspirators’ murderous crimes caused intense pain and suffering for three Georgia families whose loved ones were taken from them in a heinous manner,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary, who heads the Middle District of Georgia office that prosecuted the case.
According to court documents, Chambers held a “Position of Authority” within the national Gangster Disciples criminal organization, which included overseeing members of the “Enforcement Team.” Enforcement Teams within the Gangster Disciples are directed to discipline gang members for violations of gang rules through physical assault or murder.
Browner was a leader of the “Sisters of the Struggle” (SOS), a parallel female component of the Gangster Disciples.
Evidence presented at trial proved that on Dec. 10, 2018, Gangster Disciples member Walter Brown was murdered in Athens, Georgia. Chambers and Browner sought retaliation for Brown’s death and believed three unnamed Athens residents were responsible. On Dec. 14, 2018, Browner met Rodriquez Apollo Rucker, of Athens, at a downtown Athens hotel and learned that Rucker was related to one of the individuals she believed killed Brown. Browner sent text messages directing Chambers to travel to the motel, which he did. Chambers then followed Rucker home and shot and killed him. Browner notified an associate of the Gangster Disciples that she and Chambers would be leaving town because the police would be looking for them.
Browner was taken into custody in Mt. Enterprise, Texas, on Dec. 15, however Chambers, who had been in the vehicle with Browner, fled from law enforcement. Chambers was suspicious that someone was cooperating with law enforcement and focused his suspicions on Derrick Ruff and Joshua Jackson who were, in fact, not cooperating with law enforcement. Chambers incorrectly concluded that Ruff and Jackson were “snitches” and directed Green, who held a subordinate position on the Enforcement Team, to carry out the murders of Ruff and Jackson.
Text messages and intercepted phone calls between Chambers, Green, Carlisle and Guidry revealed that Ruff and Jackson were lured by Green, as directed by Chambers, to drive from Athens to Lawrenceville, Georgia, to break into storage sheds and steal items to send to Chambers as “aid and assistance” as he was hiding out from law enforcement in a Gangster Disciple “safe house” in Killeen, Texas. The ruse worked, and Ruff and Jackson were murdered on Dec. 19 and their bodies concealed in the storage unit until March 17, 2019, when police with the assistance of cadaver sniffing dogs located them. Additional messages between Chambers, Green, Carlisle and Guidry showed that they conspired to dispose of the victims’ bodies, which included potentially burning the bodies or dumping the bodies in a landfill. Law enforcement recovered the bodies and made arrests before these plans could be carried out.