Three Longview, TX, Prison Gang Members Sentenced For Kidnapping, Murder

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – United States Attorney Brian J. Kuester announced today that three members of a violent Texas prison gang have been sentenced for their roles in the kidnapping and homicide of one of their fellow gang members.  Brian Thomas Green, 45, Kalvin Kyle McCown, 44, and Travis Lee Hill, 28, all of the Longview, Texas, area, have been sentenced to long, non-parolable, prison sentences for the part that each played in the kidnapping and killing of Kenneth Earl Ayres.  Green was sentenced on October 26, 2017, to 25 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release.  McCown was sentenced on Otober 25, 2017, to 20 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release.  Hill was sentenced on September 20, 2017, to 15 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release.  Each was ordered to pay a $100.00 assessment to the Court.

The victim and the defendants were members or affiliates of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a gang known for vicious attacks on their own members when they violate the organization’s “Constitution.”  In July 2011, Ayres violated the gang’s rules by stealing guns from a shed at McCown’s residence in Longview, Texas.  Green, and a now deceased “prospect” who was earning his way into the gang, persuaded Ayres to come with them to McCown’s residence where Ayres was beaten and shot in the hand by Green, McCown, Hill and others.  Using McCown’s pickup, Green and Hill transported Ayres to the McCurtain County community of Harris in southeast Oklahoma where he was shot and killed.  Ayres' remains were discovered in September 2011 by farmers cutting hay.  The skeletal remains were ultimately identified by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner using a DNA profile generated in the lab at the University of North Texas.  The DNA was matched to a sample of Ayres' DNA collected by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice during a term Ayres had served in a Texas prison.

The prosecution of the case was based upon a multi-year investigation that followed the discovery of Ayres’ remains.  The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led the investigation with the close support of the Carrollton Texas Police Department, the Longview Texas Police Department, and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.  Other agencies participating in the investigation included:  Texas Department of Public Safety, McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office, Panola County Texas Sheriff’s Office, United States Bureau of Prisons, and the Texas Rangers.

U.S. Attorney Kuester said, “A homicide that is not solved within weeks of its occurrence becomes increasingly complex and more difficult to investigate and prosecute. Despite the difficulties that arose in this case due to the lapse of time, HSI Agents and the state and local law enforcement agencies that assisted them were thorough and professional. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rob Wallace and Kristen Harrington diligently worked on this case to achieve justice for the victim and his family. I commend each one who played a role in this investigation and prosecution.”

"Gang-related crimes are especially egregious, and ABT is one of the more violent gangs, as this case clearly demonstrates," said Katrina W. Berger, special agent in charge of HSI Dallas. "Homeland Security Investigations has an active anti-gang program, and our special agents routinely work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate gang-related crimes."

The Federal Grand Jury in Muskogee began hearing evidence in the case in September of 2014, and returned Indictments for Racketeering and Kidnapping charges against Green, McCown and Hill in January of 2016.  McCown and Hill entered guilty pleas to the Kidnapping charge on January 6, 2017.  Green entered a guilty plea to a charge of Use and Carry of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence on May 10, 2017.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the hearing. The defendants will remain in custody pending transportation to the designated federal facility at which the non-parolable sentence will be served.

Assistant United States Attorney Rob Wallace and Assistant United States Attorney Kristin Harrington represented the United States.