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Leader of Portsmouth gang sentenced to 16 years behind bars

Posted at 4:29 PM, Nov 16, 2015
and last updated 2015-11-16 19:11:10-05

Portsmouth, Va. – The leader of Portsmouth’s Bloods Gang will spend the next 16 years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to drugs and gun charges.

Theodore M. Vann, who is also called “Flatline,” was considered the highest ranking member of the Gorilla Mafia Piru, a gang based in the city of Portsmouth.

He was sentenced on Monday, November 16th for conspiracy to distribute heroin and being a felon while in possession of a gun. Police say the 33-year-old forfeited two .38 caliber handguns and a 9 mm Ruger P95 pistol as well as a .40 caliber handgun.

He pleaded guilty back in June. Officials say they made undercover purchases from the Gorilla Mafia Piru gang. They say Vann was caught on surveillance video in a stash house cutting heroin with additives and putting it into gel capsules for distribution. On that day, documents say Vann had about 390 grams of heroin, a large amount of money, a cutting agent, capsules,and plastic bags.

Court documents say Vann and other gang members manufactured and distributed well over one kilogram of heroin from late 2013 to August 2014.

He and the other gang members distributed the drugs in the Ghent area in Norfolk, in the city of Portsmouth, and other areas around the eastern district of Virginia.

He also traveled to New Jersey and to Richmond and Petersburg to buy the heroin.

Documents say Vann also bought heroin from 35-year-old Alonzo Outten who was previously sentenced to 30 years behind bars on November 4th and from members of the Imperial Gangsta Bloods. Christopher Smith, who was that gang’s leader, was sentenced to life in prison back in October.