LYNCHBURG, Va. – A 30-year-old man will spend nearly a decade behind bars after pleading guilty to recruiting multiple Lynchburg juveniles into a criminal street gang, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Lynchburg, Bethany Harrison.
On Jan. 10, Clifton Lorenzo Taylor was sentenced to 25 years of incarceration with 17 years suspended in connection with two felony gang charges, meaning he will only serve eight years. The active sentence handed down by the court is nearly three times longer than the range of punishment recommended by the sentencing guidelines, authorities said.
On the felony charge of criminal street gang recruitment of a juvenile by an Adult, Taylor was sentenced to 5 years of incarceration with 1 year suspended. On the charge of prohibited criminal street gang participation, Taylor was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration with 16 years suspended.
The investigation into Taylor kicked off in 2022 when the Lynchburg Police Department was looking further into an armed burglary on Shaffer Street. During the operation, referred to as Operation Royal Flush, six juveniles and one adult were identified and arrested. While digging through information retrieved from cell phones and social media accounts from three of the juveniles involved in the burglary, a gang expert with the Lynchburg discovered thousands of gang-related messages from Taylor and Larneaux Allen to the three juveniles.
On Dec. 17, 2024, Allen was sentenced to a 10-year active prison term on similar gang charges in addition to a firearm offense.
Taylor, who admitted to being an “OG” or founding member of the Lynchburg Queen Street Bloods, is said to have encouraged at least four teens between the ages of 15 and 17 to commit violent crimes for the gang over four years. Taylor’s social media had hundreds of gang-related images of Taylor, including some that showed Taylor traveling to other cities and states to meet with other high-ranking Queen Street Blood gang members, according to investigators.
Authorities believe he is the highest-ranking local member of the Queen Street Bloods.
Once he is released, Taylor will be required to complete two years of specialized intensive gang probation, is prohibited from any contact with gang members and must be of good behavior for 20 years.
