Bloods street gang leader in Moss Point headed to prison for drug trafficking

GULFPORT -- A leader of the Bloods street gang in Moss Point bent over and cried for more than 15 minutes, head in hands, after he learned how much prison time he faced for trafficking marijuana, crack and powder cocaine in his hometown.

Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. recessed for nearly a half-hour to give Moss Point resident Melvin Eugene Summers, 36, time to compose himself before sentencing on federal drug trafficking and firearms charges.

"No, Lord," Summers said as the shackles and chains that bound him rattled with his every move. "Please don't do me like this. Oh, please, Lord. Oh Lord, have mercy. Please don't do me like this." His family sat in the courtroom and cried along with him.

The judge returned and sentenced him to 12 years in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Guirola waived restitution and a fine because he said Summers did not have the ability to pay. He did order Summers to pay a $100 special assessment.

Summers took responsibility for his crime.

"I'm sorry," he told the judge. "I'd just like to have a second chance because I know I made mistakes. I'm only human. I'm sorry, and I'm sorry to my family."

The government was satisfied with the sentence on the drug-trafficking charge and dismissed a charge of unlawful transport of a firearm, though Summers had pleaded guilty to that charge.

Mike Hines, a Pascagoula police officer assigned to the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, said Summers had been under investigation since March 2012 after a confidential informant told agents Summers had been dealing large amounts of marijuana and had sold crack, powder cocaine and firearms from a home he rented on Hubert Street. Hines said Summers used the home strictly for his drug business.

Summers carried a submachine gun when he was dealing drugs.

The informant indicated "Melvin was capable of dealing pounds and kilos of marijuana."

Hines said another informant told agents Summers had been dealing pot, crack and powder cocaine since as early as 1997, though Calvin Taylor, Summers' attorney, pointed out he was in prison between 2007 and 2008 for another drug conviction in Jackson County.

During three undercover buys, Summers sold crack and powder cocaine, marijuana and firearms, Hines said.

After much discussion, the judge ruled the direct evidence showed Summers dealt 1,798 kilos of marijuana between 2008 and his March 28, 2012, arrest in Jackson County on a state charge of possession of crack cocaine.

Summers and his wife, Alicia Yvette Graves, 29, of Moss Point, were later indicted on another federal drug conspiracy charge as well as a firearms charge. In that case, the pair sold less than 50 kilos of marijuana in Jackson County between April 18 and April 23.

Graves admitted buying a firearm April 15 at a Pascagouala Pawn & Gun Shop/Pawn Mart II. She claimed she was buying the gun for herself but it was for her husband. Both await sentencing on those charges, set for April 1.

Graves is out on bond pending sentencing.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Bloods street gang leader in Moss Point headed to prison for drug trafficking ."