3 Spazz Gang Members Sentenced for Felony Firearm-Related, Eluding Charges in 2 Incidents from 2024
NORFOLK, Va. — Three gang members have been convicted of multiple felonies, including firearm-related charges, and sentenced to time in prison following two incidents in late May and early June 2024. Tiyon Efrem Spain, 22, and Nasim Rakim Greene, 22, pleaded guilty to being felons in possession of ammunition in the May incident, Mr. Greene also pleaded guilty to felony eluding in the June incident, and Jamal Jeremiah Wilson, 19, pleaded guilty to felony possession of a stolen firearm during the June incident. All three men have been sentenced as of Friday, Feb. 14, to serve between one and five years in prison following those incidents.
On May 31, 2024, Norfolk Police patrol officers in the Norview area saw Mr. Spain and Mr. Greene walking together near a driveway off Picadilly Street. When Mr. Spain and Mr. Greene noticed the officers driving by in their marked patrol vehicle, the officers saw them begin to behave suspiciously, with Mr. Spain kicking some nearby bushes before the two fled the area. When the officers searched the bushes that Mr. Spain had been kicking, they found a loaded handgun equipped with an illegal trigger activator (which makes a semi-automatic firearm effectively automatic by enabling it to fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger) as well as an illegal extended magazine. The officers recovered surveillance footage from a nearby building showing that, before the officers arrived, Mr. Spain and Mr. Greene had both thrown objects into the bushes. Officers located and arrested Mr. Spain the following day on June 1, and Mr. Greene was taken into custody following an incident on June 6. From their investigation of the May 31 incident, police secured multiple firearm-related charges against Mr. Spain and Mr. Greene, including being felons in possession of ammunition.
On June 6, before he was arrested for the May 31 incident, Mr. Greene was driving a vehicle that Norfolk Police suspected to have been involved with an armed robbery committed earlier that day. Mr. Wilson was in the front passenger seat of the vehicle with Mr. Greene. When officers saw the suspect vehicle and attempted to pull Mr. Greene over, Mr. Greene did not stop driving and caused the officers to begin pursuing him. Mr. Greene eluded police for several minutes while reaching high speeds, ignoring streetlights and signs, and weaving through traffic. Mr. Greene eventually ran the vehicle off the road at the intersection of 39th Street and Hampton Boulevard and crashed into a wooden fence. Mr. Greene and Mr. Wilson both got out of the vehicle and ran from officers. The officers detained Mr. Greene after a short foot pursuit, and Mr. Wilson ran inside a nearby apartment building. Norfolk Police set up a perimeter there until Mr. Wilson came outside and surrendered himself.
Investigators secured search warrants for the vehicle and apartment unit that Mr. Wilson had been inside, and they recovered handgun magazines and ammunition from the vehicle as well as an AR-style rifle, magazines, and ammunition from the apartment. The rifle had been reported stolen out of Chesapeake earlier in May 2024. From their investigation of the June 6 incidents, police secured multiple charges against both Mr. Greene and Mr. Wilson connected to the robbery, additional charges against Mr. Greene including felony eluding, and additional charges against Mr. Wilson including possessing a stolen firearm. The Commonwealth proceeded on Mr. Greene’s eluding and firearm cases and Mr. Wilson’s firearm case but set aside the robbery-related charges due to a lack of communication and cooperation from the witnesses of that crime.
On Jan. 23, 2025, Mr. Wilson entered an agreement to plead guilty to felony possession of a stolen firearm and serve one year in prison with another four years suspended on the condition that he be of uniform good behavior for five years following his release. Judge Robert B. Rigney accepted Mr. Wilson’s plea agreement, found Mr. Wilson guilty, and sentenced him per the agreement.
For the May 31 incident, Mr. Spain and Mr. Greene both pleaded guilty on Dec. 3, 2024, to being felons in possession of ammunition. In exchange for both of their guilty pleas, the Commonwealth agreed to dismiss their other charges from that incident but left their sentences to be determined at the sole discretion of the Court. Judge Mary Jane Hall accepted Mr. Spain’s plea agreement, and Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. accepted Mr. Greene’s plea agreement.
On Feb. 7, 2025, Judge Hall sentenced Mr. Spain to serve one year and one month in prison for the ammunition charge and suspended another one year and 11 months in prison on the conditions that he complete three years of supervised probation and uniform good behavior following his release and have no contact or affiliation with gang members. Judge Hall also found Mr. Spain in violation of his probation from a 2021 case, which also involved Mr. Greene as a co-defendant. For that probation violation, Judge Hall revoked two years and six months of previously suspended time and imposed that time for Mr. Spain to now serve in prison. Mr. Spain’s total active sentence for both cases is three years and seven months.
For the June 6 incident, Mr. Greene pleaded guilty on Dec. 10, 2024, to felony eluding and agreed that his sentence on that charge will also be left to the sole discretion of the Court. Judge Robert B. Rigney accepted that plea agreement and continued that case for Judge Martin to decide Mr. Greene’s sentences. Based on Mr. Greene’s two new convictions, Judge Martin on Jan. 24, 2025, also found Mr. Greene in violation of his plea agreement from the 2021 case involving Mr. Spain and continued Mr. Greene’s three outstanding cases for a joint sentencing hearing.
On Friday, Feb. 14, Judge Martin sentenced Mr. Greene to serve a total of five years in prison, with no time suspended, and to complete three years of post-release supervision. Mr. Greene was also ordered to have no further contact or affiliation with gang members.
“The successful convictions and sentencings of these three men are thanks to an ongoing partnership between the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and the Norfolk Police Department to identify, charge, and hold accountable those people who are gang members and who are engaging in dangerous behavior,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “In each of these cases, good police work and good prosecution has resulted in measured and considered justice that promotes public safety. We will continue to focus our office’s resources on the small number of people who are the most likely to be the drivers of crime.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily A. Woodley and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorneys Anthony J. Comento and Abigail L. Ottinger prosecuted Mr. Spain’s, Mr. Greene’s and Mr. Wilson’s cases, and Norfolk Police Detectives Kyle G. Phillips and Patrick A. Garvey led their investigations.
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