Third Defendant Charged Related to Efforts to Interfere, Obstruct Court in Trial of Peoria Gang Members
PEORIA, Ill. – Three individuals have been indicted on felony charges related to efforts to impede the court in the recent trial of members of a Peoria street gang, U.S. v. Eugene Haywood et.al.
Arraignment for Demoney T. Coleman, 21, is scheduled on Feb. 13, 2020, after a grand jury charged him with criminal contempt. The indictment alleges Coleman disobeyed and resisted the court’s order to answer questions directed to him as a government witness during testimony at the trial on Nov. 19, 2019.
Coleman is currently in law enforcement custody, serving a six-year prison term for possession of a stolen semi-automatic handgun by a felon. Coleman’s federal sentence, imposed in July 2019, was ordered to be served consecutive to any sentence imposed in a separate case in Peoria county.
A trial defendant’s mother, Anytia T. Crowe, 35, of the 1400 block of Greenlawn, Peoria, entered a plea of guilty on Jan. 23, 2020, to witness tampering. Crowe admitted that she interfered with the prosecution and trial of Haywood et.al., in which her son, Kenwan Crowe, was a named defendant. Crowe admitted that on Oct. 21, 2019, when the final pre-trial hearing was held, she stood in the entryway of the federal courthouse in Peoria, prior to passing the security desk, and harassed and intimidated witnesses who were under federal subpoena as they checked in for the hearing. Crowe admitted that she told witnesses that they did not have to cooperate and should not cooperate with the government.
At sentencing, currently scheduled on May 21, the government and Crowe have agreed to a sentence of five months in jail, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Crowe has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since her arrest on Oct. 21, 2019.
Ryan Greenwood, 30, of Peoria, was indicted in December 2019, and charged with perjury. The indictment alleges that on Nov. 18, 2019, while under oath as a witness for the government, Greenwood made false statements.
Greenwood remains on bond pending trial scheduled on April 27, 2020. The offense of perjury is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is conducting the investigations. The government is represented in the case prosecutions by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas F. McMeyer, Darilynn J. Knauss, and Katherine G. Legge.
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