Local News: "Parents angry after finding children's names on police gang lists"

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Lyles, 44, was talking to a friend whose son had just gotten probation, and the judge told him to stay away from gang members. The court gave him a "no contact list" with the names and birth dates of more than 120 members and associates of the "119 Boys" gang, a.k.a the "Young Souljas."
Lyles' 16-year-old son, Francisco Hernandez, was on the list. So was his 16-year-old cousin, Jacorrie Riley. Neither boy had ever been arrested and, Lyles said, neither was involved with gangs. But both were on a list prosecutors use to seek higher bail amounts and tougher sentences from judges.
Lyles made copies of the list. She passed it around. People read it and got angry. They made calls and sent emails. A local chapter of the NAACP got involved. Eventually, someone called a meeting.

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The people in the crowd Tuesday would agree with the author of that article. They called the lists racial profiling, and unnecessary. Many of them said there are no gangs in Largo.

"Ma'am, I really wish we did not have gang activity in Largo," Detective Brandon Harvey of the Sheriff's Office told one woman during the meeting. "Unfortunately, the truth is, we do."

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Jacorrie Riley got on the list, according to Largo police records, because police found 11 pictures of him online displaying 119 Boys hand signals, and because a police officer saw him once with other gang associates, and because he once ran away from a sheriff's deputy while accompanied by another gang member.

"It's hurtful," said Riley's mother Therese Baldin, 35, about her son's inclusion. "It's disheartening how many of those boys are on this list. You're talking about half the neighborhood."