Norristown gang suspects charged in assaults, firebombings

Members of a fledgling branch of the Bloods gang in Norristown have been charged in connection with a series of assaults and firebombings meant to establish the group's power in Montgomery County, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman announced Wednesday.

The seven adults, two juveniles, and one man identified as a gang affiliate were part of a group known as "Gangsta Killer Bloods" and "G-Shine" that planned and executed assaults in Conshohocken and Norristown, and firebombed three houses in Norristown. One firebombing set a blaze that damaged 10 adjacent homes, Vetri said.

The arrests, the result of a six-month investigation, were announced Wednesday.

Gang members arrested include Augustus "New York" Simmons, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y., the alleged leader, who was charged with attempted murder, assault, and robbery for offenses that include ordering the firebombings and assaulting and robbing a man last July in West Conshohocken.

Simmons moved to Norristown last summer to launch a local branch of the Bloods, officials said. He recruited nine local residents, and the group then carried out a crime spree that was a mix of revenge and intimidation, documents say.

Also arrested were Arienne "Aries" Hernandez, 20, of Lower Providence; Emmett "E-banger" Pearson, 24, of Pottstown; and Leon "Little Jamaican" Lobban, 19, Anthony "Ant" Knight, 22, and Amber Lucas, all of Norristown. Steven "Sky" Freas, 26, and his brother Jason Freas, 29, both of Plymouth Meeting, were also arrested. Jason Freas is identified as an affiliate of the gang.

Two juveniles also have been identified as gang members, and officials have filed a petition in Juvenile Court outlining the youths' alleged involvement in the crimes, officials say.

The group's criminal activities date to last July, authorities said, when Simmons allegedly stabbed a man in West Conshohocken. In September, Simmons allegedly beat his girlfriend after she broke up with him, authorities said. Simmons vowed to "kill her and everyone she loves," court documents say.

That threat led to two of the firebombings, which occurred at houses where the girlfriend had lived on Stanbridge Street.

A home in the 500 block of Stanbridge Street was hit in November; another in the 1000 block was firebombed in December. In that incident, a fire ignited that ultimately damaged a block of houses.

Several people were injured in the violence.

Simmons was arrested in January for the West Conshohocken assault, but he continued to plot the gang's criminal activities from inside prison, officials said.

In March, he ordered an additional firebombing of a home on George Street in Norristown in an attempt to intimidate Justin Rich, Simmons' codefendant in the West Conshohocken assault. Simmons believed Rich was going to testify against him, and planned to set fire to the house where Rich's parents lived, but the firebomb was thrown at the wrong house and was quickly extinguished, court papers say.