U.S. Attorney indicts 16 'Cut Throat' gang members

Wiretaps and surveillance followed the gang through two conspiracies.

By Alison Brady

Published Feb. 5, 2009

Sixteen members and associates of the Columbia gang, the Cut Throats, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in two conspiracies.

"The conspiracy itself ran from January 2007 until September 2008," U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Don Ledford said. "There were two separate conspiracies charged in the indictment. There is the crack cocaine drug trafficking conspiracy, and all of the defendants are charged with this."

Ledford said the second conspiracy involves drug trafficking. He said some of the defendants were involved in a drug trafficking organization that involved shootings and weapons possession. Not all of the members of the gangs are charged in that conspiracy.

The defendants who were not already in custody for other crimes were arrested on Thursday. All were arrested in Columbia.

Interim Police Chief Capt. Tom Dresner said the investigation lasted 18 months.

Dresner said the gang members were mainly arrested at their homes or other residences in Columbia.

On Thursday a judge ordered all of the defendants to be held without bond.

The motion alleges the Cut Throat members use violence to protect their illegal narcotics business, collect drug debts and to threaten and intimidate competitors. In addition, the members trade firearms among themselves and are frequently armed. They have allegedly been involved in shootings, three have taken place at gas stations and each time a handgun was fired into a group of people and one person was injured, the news release stated.

All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty.

"Pleading not guilty is really a formality, it doesn't mean much," Dresner said.

If convicted, the members of Cut Throat will face years of jail time.

"If convicted, all of the defendants would face a minimum mandatory 10 years in prison," Ledford said. "The first charge in the indictment is conspiracy. If they are convicted on that then they would face a minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in prison, just on that one charge."

The indictment alleges that Eric S. Coats, Koda A. Coats, William R. Boyd, Cheviss C. Denny, Robert L. Jones, Dajuan A. Harris, Diondre J. Cooper and Robert D. Simmons used illegal firearms to establish and protect their business.

Eric Coats faces more charges than other Cut Throat members.

"I believe that he is charged with more accounts and faces more potential prison time if convicted of those code accounts," Ledford said.

Three members of Coats' family were involved with the gang. His brother Koda Coats, mother Donna C. Coats and half-brother Dametrell Koda Washington were all charged, but his mother was not a member of the gang.

"She was associated and involved in some of the activities such as the drug trafficking conspiracy," Ledford said. "She is also charged with being in possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute and she is charged with using a telephone to facilitate the drug trafficking."

According to the indictment, members of the gang distributed crack cocaine, powder cocaine and marijuana in competition with rival groups in Columbia. The federal indictment charges all defendants with participating in a conspiracy to distribute and possess more than 50 grams of crack cocaine, the news release stated.

Police used several measures to investigate the defendants.

"There were wiretaps, phone calls were recorded and surveillance," Ledford said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Columbia Police Department, the Boone County Prosecutor's Office, the Boone County Sheriff's Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab and the Missouri Department of Corrections investigated the case, the news release stated.

The members and associates of Cut Throat range in age from 19 to 39, but they are not the only recognized gang in Columbia.

"We certainly have other ones," Dresner said. "But, these folks are working together to further criminal objectives. The indictments that were announced last week are not the end of the show."