Florence gang member sentenced for gun crimes
Published: June 12, 2009
Updated: June 13, 2009
A Florence gang member will spend nearly two years in federal prisons after stealing a firearm and bringing it to West Florence High School, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins.
U.S. District Judge Bryan Harwell sentenced 19-year-old Calvin Melford Sweeney to 21 months in prison.
Florence County sheriff’s deputies were called to the school April 30, 2008, after school officials received a report that a student had a gun in his car. The .22-caliber rifle was located in Sweeney’s car, and Sweeney later admitted he’d stolen the gun in a burglary days earlier.
Authorities said Sweeney is a known affiliate of the 900 Boyz and Hoffmeyer Boys, violent street gangs in Florence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rose Mary Parham of the Florence office prosecuted the case, which also was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as part of Project CeaseFire, an initiative of the United States Attorneys Office that seeks to aggressively prosecute gun-related crimes.
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“SwampFox” I would sure like to know where this place is. There are towns and cities that are less crime ridden than Florence but if you are trying to get away from gangs, good luck on that one. It is unfortunate to say but gangs probably exist in every town and city on the map, but you might not have heard about it. Even some of the smaller towns in the Pee Dee area have gang issues. Taking kids out of the public schools isn’t the answer but I can understand why you said that is the decision you made. There does need to be tougher penalties. Perhaps that will teach these would be criminals that there are severe consequences to their stupid actions.
This why I decided to take my kids out of public school. Until we take off the kid gloves and get really tough will things like this ever change. Basically this guy got a slap on the wrist. Criminals need to be afraid to commit crimes. We should never have validated gangster culture in the media either. It is what it is. So now you have a thug society of people who like the idea of intimidation and taking what they want. Sounds an awful lot like domestic terrorism which it is. Sorry, but I will group with people that feel the way I do and keep my family safe and live a decent life away from this. I have lost faith in my town because people don’t take this serious enough. I will be moving elsewhere to a place I know this element doesn’t exist.
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