A former Boston public school official who recruited at-risk students for the Latin Kings gang and had the students distribute drugs on campus, pleaded guilty Tuesday to racketeering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said.
The former official, Shaun Harrison, 63, faces 218 months, or more than 18 years, in prison under the plea deal reached in a case that targeted dozens of members of the Latin Kings. Mr Harrison is currently serving a prison sentence for attempting to kill one of the students, who he shot in the head at close range.
Mr. Harrison was hired to serve as academic dean at Boston English High School in 2015, months before the shooting. He worked with families to help struggling students and ran an anger management program for 10 boys at the school, using his position to recruit “some at-risk students” for the gang, prosecutors said.
Mr. Harrison, known as “Rev” or “King Rev,” instructed the students he recruited to sell marijuana and other drugs, which he supplied in high school, prosecutors said.
“This former high school dean and self-proclaimed advocate of violence against violence was supposed to represent the interests of his students, when in reality he was living a double life as a Latin king, committing violence and recruiting risky recruits. students to smuggle drugs and advance the insidious needs of the gang,” Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said in a statement.
Four of the students Mr. Harrison recruited were charged in the federal case against members and associates of the Latin Kings and each received prison terms ranging from 21 months to 32 months. Harrison is the 60th person to plead guilty in the Latin Kings case, prosecutors say.
In December 2019, more than 500 federal, state and local law enforcement officers arrested and charged dozens of leaders and members of the Latin Kings in the Northeast on charges of racketeering, drug conspiracy, and firearms. Two other suspects are still wanted on federal arrest warrants.
A hearing for Mr. Harrison is scheduled for November 15. His charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, are up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
A lawyer for Mr Harrison declined to comment.
Separately, Mr. Harrison was ordered Friday to pay $10 million in damages to the student he recruited to distribute drugs and attempted to kill, Luis Rodriguez.
In March 2015, Mr. Harrison concluded that Mr. Rodriguez stole money from him and that he could tell the police about the drug sale, prosecutors said.
That month, Mr. Harrison met Mr. Rodriguez, then 17, and told him he was taking him to meet girls and to a party, according to a lawsuit Mr. Rodriguez filed in 2019.
As they walked, Mr. Harrison mr. Rodriguez in the back of the head with a gun, causing him to bleed, but Mr. Rodriguez was able to signal a passing vehicle for help, the lawsuit said.
Mr. Rodriguez has suffered serious emotional problems, psychiatric injuries, facial scarring, facial paralysis, hearing loss and other injuries from the shooting, the lawsuit said.
He also sued Boston Public Schools, but the judge dismissed the claims against the school district. Mr Rodriguez’s lawyer has appealed the ruling.
Mr Harrison was sentenced to 26 years in prison in June 2018 on assault and other charges for the shooting. He continued to associate with other members of the Latin Kings in prison, including to try to determine who contributed to his conviction, prosecutors said Tuesday.
In 2016, while awaiting trial for the shooting, Mr Harrison denied leading a double life in an interview with a local television station, WHDH.
“I never, never sold drugs, I never sold guns, I never turned children into gangs,” he told the station. “Me? I wouldn’t even know how to do that.”