42-month sentence for felon found with another gun after high speed SFPD pursuit
A 26-year-old gang member with six previous felony convictions was sentenced to 42-months imprisonment today having been found with a loaded gun after a high-speed police pursuit.
Ramell Jenkins was arrested on May 22 2023 at the 3rd Street Texaco gas station in the Bayview neighborhood.
He had been in a vehicle with three others who were armed to the teeth with handguns and a rifle. Police captured Jenkins and an accomplice, while two others escaped on foot.
The Jeep in which Jenkins was a passenger was suspected of being the getaway vehicle in an armed robbery at a jewelry store at the Sun Valley mall in Concord days earlier.
“This is one that I’m really worried about from the perspective of whether the defendant has gotten the message and protection of the public,” said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White today at Oakland federal courthouse.
Jenkins was arrested on May 22 2023. SFPD officers had noticed that occupants of a Jeep had discarded license plates in a plastic bag in the vicinity of a Bayview grocery store. These plates, it transpired, matched those of a vehicle used in a robbery days earlier in the East Bay. As the vehicle also matched the description of the one used in the robbery, officers attempted to stop the car.
There followed a high speed chase along city streets with the target vehicle driving in the wrong lane toward opposite traffic in an attempt to evade police. Ultimately the vehicle came to a halt and all four occupants attempted to escape on foot. Two were captured, with Jenkins being detained at the Texaco gas station on 3rd Street.
Police recovered four guns from the scene: two inside the car and two more in a bag dropped nearby. Jenkins DNA was found on one of the guns: a Sig Sauer 9mm semi-automatic handgun equipped with an extended magazine loaded with 14 rounds plus one in the chamber.
Jenkins admitted that the weapon was his. He pleaded guilty earlier to one count of ‘being a felon in possession of a firearm’ and probation violations.
Jenkins, 26, has six previous felony convictions. In 2020 he was found with a loaded gun in his pants while in the company of a fellow member of the Klapshit gang, with whom he was forbidden from associating by the terms of his probation.
In 2017 he received a 40 month sentence for four other gun crimes (which included a 24-month term for a ‘street terrorism’ enhancement).
No evidence was presented to suggest Jenkins was involved in the earlier armed robbery that featured the vehicle in which he was a passenger. That incident – where the Sam’s Jewelers store at Concord’s Sun Valley Mall was robbed of merchandise worth $25,000 – took place on May 18 2023. Police later announced that Bryant Gray, 36, was their suspect for that crime. Gray is currently in custody in San Francisco charged with a litany of offenses including murder.
“I would just say your honor that the defendant seems to be using the right words…but I have to say that it reaches a point when…defendant’s actions must be take in to account at least in equal measure to his words,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Green asking the court to impose a 48 month term.
An attorney for Jenkins told the court that the sudden death of his father, with whom he had recently begun to forge a relationship, in the days preeceeding his arrest contributed to his offense. The court heard that Jenkins was committed to supporting his family and not coming back to court.
Judge Jeffrey White imposed a 30-month sentence on the substantive offense. This was coupled with an 18 month sentence for supervised release violations – 12 of which were ordered to run consecutive to the 30-month term for a total of 42 month’ custody.
“I think we are at a stage now where putting you in jail for more time, although it warehouses you and keeps you off the street, I don’t know if that achieves sentencing objectives,” said a clearly conflicted Judge White.
“If you commit crimes and violations, and your family and children are deprived of your love and presence, it’s on you. It’s selfish. You have them to think about. You can’t be selfish anymore.”
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