Georgia AG’s office secures convictions of 16 gang members in Barrow County

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has announced that the state's Gang Prosecution Unit has secured convictions against 16 members of the 1-8 Trey Gangster Bloods after a sweeping, multi-year investigation that prosecutors say unraveled violent crimes, drug trafficking operations, and gang recruitment efforts coordinated from both inside and outside state prisons.

Among those convicted in Barrow County Superior Court is Jamar Ramsay, identified by prosecutors as statewide leader of the 1-8 Trey enterprise. Ramsay is already serving a life sentence at Hays State Prison for a previous murder conviction. Ramsay had continued directing criminal activity from behind bars, including giving orders to other gang members and communicating electronically about the recruitment of minors and the movement of drugs and contraband.

Investigators said members of the group helped coordinate the packaging, sale and distribution of controlled substances, cell phones, and other banned items into state correctional facilities. Prosecutors also tied the defendants to gang activity across ten Georgia counties — Athens-Clarke, Barrow, Bulloch, Candler, Chattooga, Fulton, Gwinnett, Laurens, Monroe and Walton — as well as parts of California.