23 admit to crimes related to gangs

Racketeering, vehicle burglary, aggravated assault among charges.

Nearly two dozen people have pleaded guilty in Cobb County court to an array of gang-related crimes, some involving guns and drugs.

In all, 23 people were indicted on crimes from 12 incidents over a year and a half, according to a Friday news release from the Cobb district attorney’s office.

The incidents involve three gangs. Wildlfye and 2200 are both gangs that grew out of the Get Money Squad, which Cobb police began investigating in 2008.

One confirmed member of the gang and two others in October 2016 were accused of robbing a GameStop and a Hibbett Sports at gunpoint.

In the new set of cases, the DA’s office did not release the names of the suspects because most are expected to get First Offender status; if they complete all steps of probation, their records in this case will be sealed.

The suspects are all between 20 and 27 years old and pleaded guilty at least to racketeering. Other charges include aggravated assault, vehicle burglary and marijuana possession.

A Cobb judge issued sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years. Below are the dozen incidents:

■ Jan. 25, 2015: Two defendants committed a drive-by shooting targeting three men on Westland Way in Marietta, damaging cars and other property.

■ Feb. 18, 2015: One defendant resisted arrest at Osborne High School, hitting two officers. His backpack had marijuana “packaged for distribution,” police said. “As he ran from officers on campus, fellow gang members picked him up in a vehicle.”

■ Sept. 15, 2015: One defendant was recorded on video stealing property and cash from an Osborne student.

■ Sept. 29, 2015: Three defendants broke into 59 vehicles in the Graywood subdivision.

■ Jan. 11, 2016: At least one defendant broke into a vehicle on Manning Road in Marietta.

■ March 9, 2016: Officers responded to a call of shots fired in the area of Cobb and Newmarket parkways. They found marijuana and pills on one defendant.

■ March 27, 2016: At a Chevron on Mars Hill Road, cops found three defendants in a vehicle with 24 grams of marijuana.

■ March 31, 2016: Acting on an anonymous tip, cops responded to a home in the 1100 block of Mill Pond Drive in Smyrna. They found that several gang members “stayed at the house and sold drugs to pay rent to the homeowner.” Four firearms — two of them stolen — were found in the house. “In the kitchen, police found a tub containing more than 100 pills.”

■ May 11, 2016: Near Water Oaks Drive in Austell, one defendant “beat up a young man and hit him with a gun.”

■ May 12, 2016: Police witnessed a hand-to-hand drug sale on Windy Hill Road at Circle 75. A defendant had a gun in a vehicle.

■ May 13, 2016: Police responded to a fight at Hurt Road Park during which shots were fired.

■ June 10, 2016: Police conducting a traffic stop of two defendants found a stolen gun.

Suspects’ names were not released because most are expected to get First Offender status.