Written by @saywooord
The Department of Justice is claiming one of their own employees “repeatedly” helped the Blood gang protect its interest by identifying and exposing informants and cooperating witnesses.
Tawanna Hillard, who works in an administrative role for the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, used her access to information to help her son Tyquan Hillard, 28, and his gang, the 5-9 Brims Blood gang, according to CNN. According to the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, this happened for more than two years.
The indictment states the crimes began in 2016 when a “high-ranking member” of the gang told Hillard to use her access at work to uncover who was cooperating with the law.
Officials found out only because Tawanna Hillard called her son while he was serving a six-year sentence for possession of a loaded firearm, as said in court documents. All prison calls are recorded and monitored.
The Hilliards’ have been charged with six felony counts: witness tampering and harassment, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to tamper with a witness, each of which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.
Tawanna Hillard will also be charged with illegally obtaining information from a protected government computer. She’s being accused of looking up information on the “high-ranking” gang member and discussing back and forth with her son how others would “use violence” against the gang member.
Court records show that Tawanna Hillard pleaded not guilty to all charges and is out on a $75K bail. Her son, Tyquan, has yet to be arraigned as he currently is in a New York state prison serving out the remainder of an 11-year sentence for assault and robbery.
According to the article, the district attorney also said when Tyquan was arrested in connection with a store robbery; his mother attempted to intimidate accomplices who had confessed to the crime.
Authorities say both accomplices’, a male and female, families received death threats after the confession videos were shared with authorities.
Tyquan Hillard was found guilty of robbery, as well as assault, and is serving time for both crimes.
