RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A former gang member convicted in a jewelry heist that resembled robberies he described in his memoir has been sentenced to 126 years in prison.
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Colton Simpson, 41, declined to speak during Friday's sentencing hearing and showed no reaction when Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson III issued the sentence.
Simpson, who has previous felony convictions, was sentenced under the state's three strikes law. He was found guilty of robbery, burglary and grand theft for his role in a 2003 heist at a Robinsons-May Co. department store jewelry counter in Temecula.
Simpson was accused of being the mastermind and getaway car driver. Two unidentified men, who were not prosecuted, were accused of entering the store and actually pulling off the heist.
Dickerson permitted Simpson's 2005 memoir, "Inside the Crips: Life Inside L.A.'s Most Notorious Gang," to be presented as evidence during the trial.
Prosecutors argued that a visit by Simpson to the jewelry counter two days before the robbery was similar to scenes in the book.
---Its crazy to me to think there are still Crips and Bloods out there and doing well. At my last check I was under the impression that most of the serious, hardcore L.A. gangs had gone underground more or less, kinda like the MOB. You damn well know they exist, but they are just really, really quiet about it.
Its like if someone my size was to end up in prison serving HARD time. Id join a white power gang so fast your head would spin. You need protection on the inside. I still remember a lot about the prison system from my years in college (and I worked in an all women medium security prison for about 6 months too) You dont play solo in prison for very long and expect to be left alone. You do what ya gotta do to live in there. OK, I got off topic, anyone else got any ideas about prison, or gangs for that matter? Are there still a lot of gangs over there? I would imagine Chicago is riddled with them. The gangs here are VERY well hidden, Des Moines has an excellent gang task force, be it very small---
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