Lithia Springs Gang Member Gets 13 Years

Francisco Arrellano, a 20-year-old Lithia Springs man, was sentenced today in federal court to 13 years and 5 months in prison resulting from pleading guilty last December to attempted carjacking and discharging a firearm during a carjacking.

Arrellano was one of five members of the “Sur-13” gang to be sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia. All five pleaded guilty to their respective charges on Dec. 15, 2010.

“Gang crime strikes a particular fear in communities because of its unpredictable and violent nature,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates says in the release. “These gang members went on a weekend-long armed robbery crime spree that spread across metro Atlanta and included at least seven carjackings or attempted carjackings, the robbery of a small grocery store, and several pedestrian robberies. Because of the violent nature of these carjackings and physical assaults, each of these defendants will now be confined to federal prison for at least a dozen years, and for some, much more.”                   

Arrellano was also ordered by the court to pay $2,267 in restitution to the victims of his crimes. His prison sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release.

The other four sentenced today were:

• Pedro Barrera-Perez, a 30-year-old from Stone Mountain. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $19,272 in restitution to the victims of his crimes. He pleaded to one count of armed robbery of a grocery store, four counts of carjacking or attempted carjacking, and one count of discharging a firearm during one of the carjackings.
• Gloria Galvan, a 21-year-old Jonesboro woman. She was sentenced to 21 years and 6 months in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. She was also ordered by the court to pay $19,272 in restitution to the victims of her crimes. She pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery of a grocery store, four counts of carjacking or attempted carjacking, and one count of discharging a firearm during one of the carjackings.
• Irma Ovalles, a 21-year-old from Stone Mountain. She was sentenced to 19 years in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. She was also ordered by the court to pay $19,272 in restitution to the victims of her crimes. She pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery of a grocery store, four counts of carjacking or attempted carjacking, and one count of discharging a firearm during one of the carjackings.
• Jerry Arriaga, a 22-year-old man from Austell. He was sentenced to 16 years and 6 months in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. He was also ordered by the court to pay $11,767 in restitution to the victims of his crimes. He pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking, one count of attempted carjacking and one count of discharging a firearm during one of the carjackings.

“These sentences should serve as a stern warning to gang members whose actions breed fear and violence in our communities,” Brock Nicholson, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta, says in the release.

The “weekend crime spree” spanned the metro Atlanta area, including robberies in Clayton, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties, the release says.

The first robbery occurred on December 12, 2008, when several defendants, wielding baseball bats and a gun, robbed a small Mexican grocery store using a stolen car. From there, these defendants beat a man and attempted to carjack his truck. 

In quick succession, all defendants, now bearing an AK-47 and other firearms, carjacked or attempted to carjack six other vehicles, the release says. During one attempted carjacking, a child was hit in the mouth with a baseball bat and, when the carjacking failed, the defendants fired an AK-47 at the victim family as they fled.

Their carjacking spree ended during a police chase when the defendants rolled the carjacked truck that they were in, and one of the gang members, a minor, was killed, the release says. The gang members who were minors were prosecuted for carjacking by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

Though federal and state prosecutors have made “great strides” in combating criminal gang activity, it’s still prevalent throughout Fulton County, Paul Howard, Fulton County’s district attorney, says in the release. SUR-13, short for Sureños-13, is a large, violent gang known for crime sprees like the one prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office, he adds.