Gilbert Goons plea deals: What we've learned from court documents
We are learning more about the plea deals that were offered to teen violence suspects with connections to the Gilbert Goons criminal street gang.
On May 11, we reported that Garrett Bagshaw, Deleon Haynes, and Jacob Pennington all pleaded guilty to aggravated assault charges as part of a plea deal. On May 13, we received court documents that provided more details on some of the plea deals.
The charges date back to December 2022, but arrests didn't happen until after the death of 16-year-old Preston Lord who was beaten at a Halloween party.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell made it very clear that these cases are not directly tied to the Preston Lord case. However, many of the teen violence cases have overlapped with suspects, some whom have admitted they're part of the Gilbert Goons.
Featured
Teen violence: Here's a list of suspects authorities have arrested
For months, police in various East Valley cities have been investigating acts of teen violence, with one of the incidents resulting in the death of a teenager. Here's a list of arrests and indictments that have been announced by authorities.
The plea deals are for two assaults in Maricopa County and one in Pinal County.
Pennington pleaded guilty in the December 2022 assault at an In-N-Out Burger in Gilbert. Multiple people were attacked, and one victim was beaten with brass knuckles.
The second attack involves Richard Kuehner's 16-year-old son who was attacked by a group of people outside the same In-N-Out Burger. Kuehner's son had thousands of dollars in medical bills and sent his son overseas for his safety.
One of the defendants in this case, Haynes, pleaded guilty earlier this month. Haynes allegedly also stole the teen's shoes and was charged with robbery.
Haynes was given supervised probation, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay full restitution to all victims. The robbery charge will be dropped as well.
County attorney Rachel Mitchell says the victims in the two Maricopa County cases have been consulted about the resolution.
"Victims always have a say. They don't have absolute final say because that has to be done by the prosecution, but they absolutely have input in the resolution of the case, yes," she said.
In the third beating, a group attacked a 16-year-old near San Tan Mountain Regional Park.
'Gilbert Goons' officially classified as a criminal street gang, police say
The "Gilbert Goons" have been formally declared a "criminal street gang." As for those involved, police say members primarily attended east Valley schools, drank underage, used illegal drugs and "participated in a fight club type of agreement."
In an interview with police, Pennington reportedly admitted to being part of the Gilbert Goons. Both Pennington and Bagshaw have pleaded guilty.
Pennington will have supervised probation and has to pay restitution. Bagshaw must complete a differed prosecution program and pay restitution as well.
"People should not take from this that entering a plea agreement is not holding somebody accountable. We absolutely are holding these individuals accountable for their behavior," Mitchell said.
She says when someone enters a plea, most of the time the judge agrees with the plea, however they can reject it.
She says it's possible we'll be seeing more plea deals when it comes to teen violence cases in the east Valley.