Lawyers, Guns And Money Land Tampa Gang Member In Federal Prison

Tampa FL

06 April, 2022

12:29 PM

Description

TAMPA, FL — A high-ranking member of Money Power Respect (MPR), a violent and rapidly growing prison and street gang that operates throughout the Tampa Bay area, will spend 17 yrs and six months in federal prison. United States District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Keon Moore 30, of Tampa to federal prison for possessing a firearm or ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing controlled substances with the intent to distribute them. Moore was indicted on June 4, 2020. A jury found him guilty on October 21. According to testimony and evidence presented during sentencing and the four-day trial, prior to being apprehended and convicted in this case, Moore stored guns and drugs for use by himself and others, sold guns and drugs, and threatened violence to collect drug debts. In one of Moore's private Facebook communications, a person to whom Moore had provided drugs on consignment, but who failed to pay on time, begged Moore not to kill him via drive-by shooting over the $90 he owed Moore. The charges brought in this case revolved around a Public Storage unit rented by Moore. After a drug-detecting dog alerted law enforcement to Moore's unit, officers executed a search warrant of the unit. Inside the otherwise empty 50-square-foot unit, officers located seven guns, including two rifles; ammunition; approximately 45 grams of pure methamphetamine; 34 grams of cocaine; 53 grams of Eutylone; and 1.6 kilograms of marijuana, among other drugs; and a clothing item containing Moore's DNA. Ballistics analysis linked one of the guns to five unsolved shootings. This case was investigated by the FBI, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Tampa Police Department as part of an ongoing effort to bring down the MPR gang.