Feds sentence 3 for gang attacks

Bullet holes mark up the siding of a home in a quiet, unassuming subdivision near 136th Avenue and Riley Street.

No one was injured.

Sheriff's department investigators have yet to establish the motive behind Wednesday night's incident . But gang activity is one possibility being considered.

As local law enforcement works to stem the tide of gang related incidents in Ottawa and Allegan counties, they're relying more and more on help from the federal government.

And that help seems to be putting a dent in gang activity.

The latest example -- the sentencing of three men connected to several gang related incidents in 2007.

The three men, 24-year-old William VanEyck , 22-year-old Gonzalo Venegas, and 22-year-old Rigoberto Rubio-Castillo, all from the Holland area, received sentences of between 37 and 54 months in federal prison for their roles in obtaining and using firearms to commit drive-by and walk-by shootings in Ottawa and Allegan countries.

Federal prosecutors say the shootings were the work of gang members.

"In the summer and fall of 2007, several communities in West Michigan were plagued by a series of drive-by and walk-by shootings of occupied residences," said U.S. Attorney Donald Davis in a statement released Friday.

"These shootings were planned and executed by members of the Sureno 13 gang operating in West Michigan."

A shooting into a home on M-40 that nearly missed an infant, and a car firebombing on the same side of town are just a few of the incidents that fed a spike in gang related violence in portions of Ottawa and Allegan counties in 2007.

No one was injured.

The prosecution, taken at the federal rather than the state level, has proven effective in communities throughout West Michigan.

The Holland charges were part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. The initiative uses federal gun laws that in many cases make it easier to prosecute and get gang members off the streets.

"One of the priorities of the Department of Justice is targeting gang violence through aggressive enforcement of firearms laws. This prosecution reflects the value of federal, state and local partnerships in removing violent felons, and those who supply firearms to felons and gang members, from our communities," says Davis.

The 2007 arrest of the three men sentenced this week seemed to have had the desired effect.

"We noticed the summer of 2008 was relatively uneventful," said Ottawa County Sheriff's Department Lt. Mark Bennett.

A similar approach has been used to combat gang violence in Grand Rapids.

"These coordinated efforts have proven successful at combating gang violence and preventing the rise of both domestic and transnational gang activity in West Michigan," says Davis.

If you have information on illegal guns, gangs with guns, armed drug or firearm trafficking, you are asked to call the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tip line at 1-800-ATF-GUNS (283-4867).