Man sentenced for riot in 2010 gang assault case
A 20-year-old Uniontown man was sentenced to three to 23 months behind bars, but is immediately eligible for parole, on a riot charge related to alleged gang activity in Uniontown.
Aaron Durkin was sentenced Tuesday in Fayette County Court.
Police believe he was part of the a teenage gang called “Killa Squad” that attacked two men outside a Uniontown home in 2010 over an alleged beef over local amateur rappers.
As part of the plea deal in the case, more serious assault charges were dropped.
“This was a series of events that occurred at a time when we believed that gang activity in the city of Uniontown was getting out of control,” District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. said.
Heneks noted that of the several alleged gang members charged, one ultimately pleaded guilty in an unrelated homicide case, and others yet are facing even more serious, violent charges.
“If you continue with gang activity, you’re going to be the next victim of a murder, or you’re going to be charged with murder,” Judge Nancy D. Vernon told Durkin.
She told Durkin that the violence associated with gang activity is “getting to be a significant problem in Uniontown.”
As part of his sentence, Durkin, represented by Assistant Public Defender Daniel Taylor, received credit for time served from Jan. 9 to Tuesday.
He was on the lam in this case for almost 20 months after police filed the charges.
Vernon ordered that when Durkin is on parole, he is to have no contact with the victims in the case.