An East Valley teenager, Tyler Freeman, aged 18, has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to two violent assaults, including a brutal attack involving brass knuckles at an area house party and another at a Gilbert In-N-Out restaurant. According to FOX 10 Phoenix, Freeman was involved in several assaults dating back to November 2022 and will now face 2.5 years behind bars, with a 268-day credit already served.
The assaults brought the "Gilbert Goons", a group alleged to have been involved in a local surge of East Valley violence, to widespread attention, particularly after the murder of Preston Lord, with Freeman's accomplice, Owen Hines, now facing murder charges in that case. According to information obtained by ABC15, Freeman’s attorney hopes that his client will to continue to rehabilitate and one day serve the community.
In court, the prosecution described Freeman as the "instigator" of the assaults and revealed evidence including videos of the attacks and threatening Snapchat messages sent by Freeman. Moreover, recordings of jailhouse phone calls were presented where Freeman seemingly made light to threaten further violence upon release, according to ABC15.
Judge Bruce Cohen, who presided over the case, labeled Freeman as remorseless and cited the lack of consideration for the victims when he handed down the concurrent sentences for the separate assaults. Despite Freeman's claim during the trial that the "Gilbert Goons" was merely a "friend group," Gilbert police had, in a previous announcement, considered classifying them as a hybrid criminal street gang but ultimately did not gather sufficient evidence for gang charges. Dale Jorgensen, the victim of the November party attack, recounted to ABC15, "I just remember one guy throwing brass knuckles at me [and] one hit me on the top of the head."
