{"id":65348,"date":"2026-05-01T21:30:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T01:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65348"},"modified":"2026-05-01T21:30:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T01:30:48","slug":"lakeland-gang-members-charged-with-38-car-burglaries-gun-thefts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/01\/lakeland-gang-members-charged-with-38-car-burglaries-gun-thefts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakeland Gang Members Charged With 38 Car Burglaries, Gun Thefts."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Six identified gang members were arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) in an operation dubbed “Operation Gangs & Guns.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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The group is accused of committing at least 38 car thefts and theft of seven firearms in the south Lakeland area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incident Details and Arrests: The thefts occurred over three nights in four different neighborhoods in South Lakeland: Reflections West: 13 car thefts on March 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christina Oaks: 11 car thefts on May 26. Highlands Crossing & Mission Hills: 14 car thefts on May 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheriff Grady Judd stated that the perpetrators specifically targeted vehicles with pro-gun or conservative stickers because they assumed the owners would keep guns inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They often ignored other valuables, such as credit cards, and focused solely on the firearms. As of the last report, only two of the seven stolen guns had been recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Suspects and Charges: The suspects face nearly 200 charges in total, many of which carry gang enhancements that can increase sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kingston Pringle (17): Described as a “field commander” and “organized criminal mastermind.” He faces 75 charges, including directing criminal gang activity and possession of a machine gun. He was charged as an adult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javien Sterling (19): Recruited by Pringle as a driver during the Highlands Crossing and Mission Hills heists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He faces 40 charges. Eric Denson (18): Driver during the Reflections West heist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the theft charges, he also faces a first-degree attempted murder charge from the Lakeland Police Department. While in jail, he was found in possession of a homemade shiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other suspects include Eldred Kellum (23), who faces 63 charges, Taurean Sumrall (22), who allegedly sold stolen guns, and De’Andre Guilford (22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police also found disturbing videos on the suspects’ cell phones, showing them pointing modified automatic firearms at small children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six identified gang members were arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) in an operation dubbed “Operation Gangs & Guns.” The group is accused of committing at least 38… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcLzY4NDU4MjQ0M18xNTEwOTQwNzAxMDQyODE5XzgxNzQ3MjM3ODI3Mzg2MTg0ODlfbi53ZWJwP2ZpdD03MjAlMkM1NDAmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJMYWtlbGFuZCBHYW5nIE1lbWJlcnMgQ2hhcmdlZCBXaXRoIDM4IENhciBCdXJnbGFyaWVzLCBHdW4gVGhlZnRzLiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.1TGDNWygjUYMbLMMG7H4Y3t161mUQDZmfNqwkmmJ4NoMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC82ODQ1ODI0NDNfMTUxMDk0MDcwMTA0MjgxOV84MTc0NzIzNzgyNzM4NjE4NDg5X24ud2VicCIsInR4dCI6Ikxha2VsYW5kIEdhbmcgTWVtYmVycyBDaGFyZ2VkIFdpdGggMzggQ2FyIEJ1cmdsYXJpZXMsIEd1biBUaGVmdHMuIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.XsjtVGnXCJxgZsphZd-F5-IaEjk1ORYKpPqdM58qy_cMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14522,14521],"class_list":["post-65348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-gun-thefts","tag-lakeland-gang-members-charged-with-38-car-burglaries"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65350,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65348\/revisions\/65350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}