Baltimore man pleads guilty to federal conspiracy charges for involvement in Cherry Hill gang
A man who was a member of a violent South Baltimore gang has pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise.
Travis Eugene Alewine, 30, also known as “Sticks,” of Baltimore, pleaded guilty Monday for his role in the so-called Hillside gang that operated in the Cherry Hill neighborhood, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland announced Tuesday in a news release.
Alewine, who was on the run for two years before he was arrested by U.S. marshals in 2019, will be sentenced to between 15 years and 21 years and a month in federal prison in exchange for his plea agreement. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18.
He and his fellow gang members terrorized the Cherry Hill community for years, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron said. Hillside’s operation ran for 14 years in Cherry Hill, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“The gang members pushed drugs into the community, threatened violence constantly, and even took the lives of others,” ATF Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Toni M. Crosby said.
Alewine participated in selling crack and powder cocaine, heroin, oxycodone and marijuana as a member of the gang and used the profits to buy guns and traffic narcotics, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in the release. He also committed robbery, homicides and nonfatal shootings.
Gang members sold drugs in the 600 block of Cherry Hill Road and other locations throughout Cherry Hill as well as in West Baltimore and Southwest Baltimore, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
During one of these gang dealings in August 2012, Alewine and three other members discharged a .45-caliber firearm and killed 28-year-old Anthony Cureton, whom they mistakenly believed was a member of a rival South Baltimore gang called Up Da Hill, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Cureton and a 29-year-old African American man were in the 2700 block of Giles Road in Cherry Hill when someone fired at them from a car, according to police. Cureton was shot in the head and died at a hospital two hours later. The 29-year-old was shot in the hip and was able to get himself to a hospital. He survived.
Hillside members have been in a long-running dispute with Up Da Hill members, the Lakebrook Circle Boys gang and others. Hillside members committed acts of violence and murdered members of rival organizations and people who were in territory that was controlled by the rival gangs.
A total of 21 defendants charged in the Hillside case, including Alewine, have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy, according to the release.
Eighteen defendants have been sentenced to 10 to 30 years in federal prison. Alewine’s attorney, Paul F. Enzinna, declined to comment.
