Alleged Bloods gang member sentenced to 20 years in prison for 2020 shooting

A judge Wednesday sentenced a Hempstead man whom a prosecutor identified as a high-ranking member of a Bloods street gang set to a 20-year prison sentence for a shooting in the village.

“You take no responsibility with respect to this matter,” acting State Supreme Court Justice Francis Ricigliano told Trevor Ford, 30, while meting out his punishment.

A Nassau County Court jury in March convicted Ford of felony charges of criminal possession of a weapon, assault and criminal possession of a firearm.

Ford had an argument with the victim about 7:15 p.m. on May 15, 2020, at the corner of Bedell Street and Terrace Avenue before shooting the man once in the leg, according to prosecutors.

They said the victim suffered a leg fracture and needed emergency surgery to prevent further damage.

Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement Wednesday that Ford "was unflinching in his decision to draw a weapon and callously shoot the man at a busy intersection in Hempstead.”

Prosecutor Charles Dunn asked for the 20-year sentence for Ford, telling the judge the defendant was a higher-up in the set, or subgroup, of the Bloods gang that controls the apartment building at 100 Terrace Ave. — including its drug trade.

Ford’s defense attorney, Jonathan Rosenberg, told the judge Wednesday that while the defense respected the verdict, his client maintained his innocence.

“We think the jury got it wrong,” the Brooklyn attorney told the judge.

Rosenberg and his co-counsel, Craig Herskowitz, said after court that the victim of the shooting didn’t testify at the trial after he was listed as a prosecution witness.

The victim told the defense in a recorded conversation that Ford wasn’t the person who shot him, but he wasn’t allowed to testify in court, according to Ford’s attorneys.

They said the jury was already deliberating when the defense obtained the audio recording and although the victim then came to court, the judge wouldn’t permit the jury to hear any more testimony at that point.

Nassau District Attorney’s Office spokesman Brendan Brosh declined to comment on that issue after Wednesday’s sentencing.

Rosenberg said he’d file appeal paperwork for Ford and called his sentence “excessive.”

The defendant also has a pending attempted murder case after he allegedly shot at someone in a hallway at 100 Terrace Ave. in May 2019, according to prosecutors.

They said he’s also accused of conspiring to buy and distribute cocaine as part of an alleged narcotics trafficking conspiracy that same year. 

Online court records show Ford has pleaded not guilty in those Nassau cases.