NEW BOSTON, Texas–A Tennessee man paid to assist the Texarkana-based gang Loyalty Cash Business with crimes including murder, assault, robbery and burglary was sentenced to three life sentences Thursday by a Bowie County jury at the end of a four-day trial.
Cedric Alexander, 33, was found guilty of multiple counts of organizing in criminal activity, a racketeering-type charge, and sentenced to a maximum term on each count. The jury also slapped Alexander with a maximum $10,000 fine on each charge.
A police detective who investigated the gang testified at the trial that she has lived in constant fear that gang members will attack her or her family because of a “hit” ordered on her, and has lived for months with security, First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told TXK Today on Thursday.
Crisp added that, “This local band of violent criminals hired Cedric Alexander from Memphis to torment our community and carry out a spree of homicidal violence.”
“Far from demonstrating remorse or asking for mercy, Alexander boasted of his lawless disregard for humanity on social media, calling himself a ‘hitman,’” Crisp said. “Thankfully, state and local law enforcement apprehended and collected the necessary evidence that allowed a jury of our citizens to swiftly convict Alexander and assess him the maximum penalty allowed by law for each charge. The District Attorney’s Office will continue to work diligently with local law enforcement to deliver the safety and law and order that law-abiding county citizens deserve.”
Alexander is among dozens of people charged in connection with the Loyalty Cash Business (LCB) sprawling web of criminal activity as the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office uses the racketeering charges to dismantle the gang and stop the murders, drug trafficking and other crimes that have been plaguing the Texarkana region for years.
LCB was originally formed as a juvenile street gang called “Little Cuz Boys” in approximately 2003, and the gang later rebranded itself, hawking music videos online that glorified a violent, criminal lifestyle while profiting from myriad crimes. Some high-ranking members are currently serving prison time, others are awaiting their day in court and dozens of alleged lower-level associates have pending cases.
Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter called experts who testified that Alexander’s cell phone showed he was at every crime scene when murders, assaults and robberies occurred on dates in 2020 and 2021.
Alexander traveled with alleged co-defendant Cornell Brown from Memphis to Texarkana to carry out the hit on Jermaine “Bubba” Aldridge Dec. 30, 2020, who was fatally shot in the parking lot of Chili’s in Texarkana. His phone again tied him to “an aggravated robbery of an elderly victim, an execution style shooting in broad daylight at a local auto body shop and a brazen home invasion,” in the Texarkana area on July 15, 2021, Crisp said.
Alexander was represented by Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson and Little Rock lawyer Tabitha Branch. Fifth District Judge Bill Miller presided over the trial.
