Photo by Sam Yu Frederick County Sheriff Jim Hagy, right, speaks at the podium Thursday morning with other law enforcement officials during a news conference at the Frederick County Law Enforcement Center. Police said they have dismantled the organization and structure of the Crips gang by arresting many of the major leaders, whom they have been investigating since 2002.

On Thursday during a press conference, the public learned police have been monitoring gangs and making arrests -- 53 to be precise -- in Frederick, Carroll and Washington counties for several years. The arrests were the result of 37 search warrants, 35 of which were served in Frederick County, according to Sheriff Jim Hagy.

Police said they have dismantled the organization and structure of the Crips gang by arresting many of the major leaders, whom they have been investigating since 2002.

To date, police have filed more than 150 criminal charges against Crips, most of them felonies. Many are for violent or drug-related crimes, including robbery, attempted murder and distribution, police said.

Officers have seized nine semi-automatic handguns, more than 16 pounds of crack, cocaine and marijuana, 258 Ecstasy pills, 8 ounces of liquid PCP and $45,848 in drug money, police said.

The two branches of the Crips -- the Outlaw Gangster Crips and the Money Making Gangster Crips -- both originated on the West Coast, but are known to be recruiting in Western Maryland, police said. Some of the leaders moved to Hagerstown and Frederick from New York, said Col. Thomas Hutchins of Maryland State Police.

Police have arrested Lamar Wilmore, 28, leader of the Outlaw Gangster Crips, on drug dealing charges. The leader of the Money Making Gangster Crips, Kenneth Williams, 33, has been on the run for about three weeks, wanted on charges of importing drugs into the state and distribution.

The four "lieutenants," or secondary Crip leaders -- Nayquan Brown, Andrew Hill, Shareef Foster and Alfred Holloway -- are in jail. Sheriff Hagy said some of the inmates at Frederick County Adult Detention Center are gang members.

"It's a small percentage, but it's significant," he said.

Correctional officers at the detention center frequently deal with gang members, who are aware of the presence and affiliation of other gang members there. Frederick has access to a statewide criminal records database through the detention center's central booking unit, which functions as an intelligence post, Sheriff Hagy said.

Col. Hutchins commended Frederick Police Chief Kim Dine for sharing information about gang activity in Frederick early in the investigation. Chief Dine became head of the Frederick Police Department in May 2002.

Westminster Police Chief Jeffrey Spaulding said he noticed the level of violent crime escalate following an attack by a gang member on a plainclothes officer in May 2002.

Chief Spaulding said police were already familiar with local thugs from past arrests, but now Crips members were recruiting them to sell drugs and do the gang's dirty work.

"It was the same people, but a higher level of crime," he said.

Frederick authorities said they recognized the same pattern. Crips members robbed and shot at residents of Brookside Apartments in Frederick and led police on a high-speed chase in June 2004.

Four months later, a Crips member opened fire on a crowd in Westminster after an argument. In March 2005, Westminster police arrested a Crip for a machete assault.

"These kinds of violent crimes are virtually unheard of in the annals of Westminster," Chief Spaulding said.

The Frederick County State's Attorney's Office is partnering with law enforcement and other counties' prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties for gang members.

While it is not a crime to be a gang member, repeated charges and known criminal gang affiliation could influence prosecutors and judges to reject a lower plea bargain, said Deputy State's Attorney Charlie Smith.

The Frederick County State's Attorney's office was the lead agency to benefit from a recent $15,000 state grant aimed at fighting gang-related crime. Part of the money will fund a full-time gang prosecutor, assigned to drug, gun and assault cases, Deputy Smith said.