Poughkeepsie Gang Member Convicted
A known Blood gang member in the Hudson Valley, with a long criminal history, was convicted by a jury trial after he used a gun to injure a woman.
On Friday an Ulster County trial jury convicted a 30-year-old Raymond Moore, aka “Face,” of Poughkeepsie for the violent felony of illegally possessing a loaded gun.
Moore, a Bloods gang member, was indicted for using the gun to injure a woman in Kingston last June, however the jury hung regarding the assault charge. The incident occurred just a few months after Moore was released from prison for gun possession in Poughkeepsie, officials say.
Following his arrest in June, Moore allegedly told police that a friend, Antoine Wise-Brown, was the owner of the gun and took the gun back to Poughkeepsie after the assault. At the time, Wise-Brown was being processed by police for DWI.
In court, prosecutors presented evidence that included letters written by Moore to his friends and witnesses trying to threaten and intimidate witnesses whom he referred to as “rats”. He also offered to pay witnesses $1,000 to change their testimony.
Moore also tried to get a female friend to deliver a made-up story, officials say. That woman was convicted for tampering with a witness.
According to the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, police recovered a letter Moore wrote where he discussed the assault and expressed that he got “madder and madder” because he thought that the girls wanted to take his gun and report him to police. The letter was deemed not admissible at trial.
The jury found Moore guilty of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm. He faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced on Dec. 21.
Moore has 13 prior criminal convictions in Dutchess County in the last 12 years, including four felonies, one of which involved his possession of a loaded gun during a chase with a Poughkeepsie police officer, officials say.
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