Leaders of Henrico-based gang plead guilty

A birthday party, a credit-card purchase and gang rivalry have doomed the leadership of a gang operating in the Richmond area.

In brief hearings yesterday in Henrico County Circuit Court, key members of the Tiny Rascals Gang pleaded guilty to multiple gang participation and recruitment charges as well as robbery and firearms violations.

Gang activities spelled out in court ranged from initiation beatings to a brazen robbery to spraypainted tags that defaced area buildings, authorities say.

The gang has origins in California street gangs but is reaching into central Virginia along with the more familiar Bloods and Crips, say Henrico gang investigators.

"Bigger cases are in the investigation stage," said Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Feinmel.

He praised cooperation among Henrico and Goochland County investigators in bringing down the Rascals, who were operating in the West End Drive area of the county but also had shown up in South Richmond, Goochland and Chesterfield County.

On April 5 last year, a birthday party at a gang member's residence on Whitemont Drive in Henrico raised the ire of Rascals leader Michael Mao when a Rascals member's relative turned up with a reputed member of the Crips gang.

Later that night, according to evidence, Mao and other Rascals members traveled to the man's home in the 800 block of Duck Pond Road in Goochland. Mao, according to court proceedings in Goochland, fired at least three shots from an automatic rifle into the home of the alleged Crips member.

Mao also was convicted yesterday of the New Year's Day armed robbery of a Henrico woman who was beaten in the back of the head and forced to give up her purse. Mao used a credit card of hers to buy cigarettes at a Jefferson Davis Avenue 7-Eleven, assuring that his picture and the purchase would be recorded on surveillance cameras.

Mao, 23, also was a key figure behind initiation ceremonies in which new members were beaten -- or "jumped" -- for 20 seconds by existing members, police say.

The Rascals, who used the slogan "Ride Together, Die Together," spray-painted their signs on Henrico's R.C. Longan Elementary School and a neighborhood community center.

"It's good to get these people off the streets," said Henrico police Lt. Doug Perry.

Convicted yesterday on multiple gang-related charges were David Leng, 21, of the 2300 block of Mimosa Street in Richmond; his brother, Robert Leng, 22, of the 9200 block of Whitemont Drive in Henrico; Chanvirak Lor, 22, of the 9600 block of Woodman Road in Henrico; his cousin, Chanvirith Lor, of the 1300 block of Castle Welland Drive in Chesterfield; and Mao, 23, of Silver Spring, Md.

Sentencing is scheduled for next month.

Also charged and facing a future hearing is Junior Chamorean of the 11000 block of Lincolnshire Court in Henrico.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .