MANSFIELD — A high-speed chase that ended in an arrest five months ago led to the seventh “gang-related” conviction for the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office.
Kenneth Jackson Jr., 32, of Mansfield pleaded guilty Wednesday in Richland County Common Pleas Court to participating in a criminal gang (F-2), tampering with evidence (F-3) and possession of cocaine (F-5), according to county Prosecutor Jodie Schumacher.
Judge Brent Robinson sentenced Jackson to 4.5 years in prison, which Schumacher said was the agreement worked out between her team and defense counsel. Other charges against him were dropped as part of the plea bargain.
Schumacher praised the work of the Mansfield Police Department on the case, particularly the Community Action Team that began its work in 2022.
“This case is the definition of ‘going the extra mile’ in law enforcement and it paid off yesterday,” Schumacher said Thursday.
Lt. Ryan Grimshaw, who leads the CAT team, said Jackson was the focus of an investigation at the time police attempted a car stop in which the defendant was a passenger.
“It was a high-speed chase all over the city of Mansfield,” Grimshaw said Thursday. “During the pursuit, he was seen throwing crack cocaine out the window of the vehicle and was later observed throwing a pistol out the window.”
Grimshaw said Jackson is the third member of his gang to be successfully arrested and prosecuted under the statute. Others got longer sentences, which Grimshaw said made Jackson more likely to accept a plea deal.
Assistant Chief Michael Napier praised Grimshaw, who helped form the CAT team five years ago. The unit has five officers working under Grimshaw, all on a part-time basis on top of regular duties.
The CAT team is largely grant-funded and Napier said the unit worked 853 man-hours in 2025.
“The lieutenant is one of the largest reasons our violent crime has come down so far,” Napier said. “We can’t say enough good things about the work he and the team have done. It’s made a profound difference.”
One of the things the team did in the case against Jackson was use his own musical talents against him.
“He is very vocal in his music about his gang life,” Grimshaw said.
Schumacher said the officers, in addition to finding the drugs and gun Jackson tossed from the car, also listened and transcribed an entire album of rap lyrics the defendant had recorded, “to make sure that (Jackson) had nowhere to run from taking accountability.”
She said Jackson, who she said performed as “Gatti Gramz,” said on one track:
“The gang unit on my back talkin’ bout some murders
Told them bitches all I do is rap, I am not a worker
Talking ’bout they see me on Bradford, Y’all bitches lurkers
But I’m still slidin’ through the city like a subway surfer”
Napier and Grimshaw said the fact defendants like Jackson are paying attention to the CAT team adds another challenge to their work, the same way the METRICH Drug Task Force is known among illegal drug dealers.
“They know we are out there,” Grimshaw said.
The gang law (Ohio Revised Code 2923) is designed to punish criminal gang members by adding a second-degree felony to other related charges.
Under the law, a “criminal gang” is ongoing formal or informal organization, association, or group of three or more persons to which all of the following apply:
(1) It has as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more offenses like murder, attempted murder or conspiring to commit murder;
(2) It has a common name or one or more common, identifying signs, symbols, or colors.
(3) The persons in the organization, association, or group individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity.