A former Boston Public Schools employee who recruited endangered students into Latin King gangs and had them distribute drugs to students on campus pleaded guilty to extortion charges on Tuesday, according to the Massachusetts District Attorney’s Office. said the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Former official Sean Harrison, 63, faces 218 months or more than 18 years in prison under a plea bargain in a lawsuit targeting dozens of members of the Latin Kings. Yes. Mr. Harrison is currently in prison for attempting to kill one of his students, who shot him in the back of the head at point-blank range.
Harrison had been hired as dean of Boston’s English High School in 2015, months before the shooting. He worked with his family to help struggling students, ran an anger management program for 10 male students at his school, and used his position to “many people at risk.” students” to join the gang.
Harrison, known as “Rev” or “King Rev,” directed students he recruited to sell marijuana and other drugs he provided at his high school, prosecutors said.
“This former high school dean and self-proclaimed anti-violence advocate was supposed to be looking out for the best interests of his students, but in reality, he was a person at risk. While recruiting, he engaged in violence and lived a double life as a Latin king, Joseph R. Bonavolonta, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said in a statement.
Four of Harrison’s recruited students were indicted in federal lawsuits against Latin Kings members and associates and sentenced to prison terms of 21 to 32 months each. Harrison is the 60th person to plead guilty in the Latin Kings case, according to prosecutors.
In December 2019, more than 500 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers arrested dozens of leaders and members of the Northeast Latin Kings on charges of extortion, drug conspiracy, and firearms. , indicted. His two other defendants are still wanted on federal arrest warrants.
Harrison’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 15th. His indictment under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and he will be fined $250,000.
A lawyer for Harrison declined to comment.
Separately, Harrison was ordered on Friday to pay $10 million in damages to Luis Rodriguez, a student who tried to kill him by distributing drugs.
In March 2015, Harrison came to believe that Rodriguez had stolen money from him and might tell police about selling drugs, prosecutors said.
According to a lawsuit filed by Rodriguez in 2019, Harrison met with the then-17-year-old Rodriguez that month and told him that he would take him to meet girls and to parties.
As the two walked, Harrison shot Rodriguez in the back of the head with a pistol, drawing blood, but Rodriguez was able to call for help from a passing car, the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Rodriguez suffered severe emotional distress, trauma, facial scarring, facial paralysis, deafness and other injuries from the shooting.
He also sued Boston Public Schools, but a judge dismissed the district’s claims. Rodriguez’s attorneys have appealed the judgment.
Harrison was sentenced in June 2018 to up to 26 years in prison for assault and shooting charges. Prosecutors said Tuesday that he continued to associate with other members of the Latin Kings in prison, trying to determine who contributed to his conviction.
In 2016, while awaiting trial for the shooting, Harrison denied living a double life in an interview with local TV station WHDH.
“I never sold drugs, I never sold guns, I never ganged my kids,” he told the station. “Myself? I didn’t even know how to do it.