Former Paterson Healing Collective advocate gets 5 years in violent drug gang case

PATERSON — Terrance Drakeford, a former outreach worker for the Paterson Healing Collective anti-violence group, has become the first defendant sentenced to prison in a federal case targeting a violent 4th Ward drug gang.

Drakeford, 31, last month was sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to drug conspiracy and distribution charges. He is being held at the Schuykill federal correction institution in Minersville, Pennsylvania.

Drakeford was in southern California getting a violence intervention award with fellow Healing Collective members in June 2023 when the United States Attorney’s Office announced the criminal charges against him and others allegedly involved in the UpTop gang that operated around Governor and Carroll streets.

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One of the crimes Drakeford admitted in his guilty plea was selling fentanyl in Paterson just weeks before the trip to California to accept the award.

The Healing Collective has received several million dollars in grants from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and the federal government for its efforts to help street violence victims and to prevent retaliatory shootings in Paterson.

One of the group’s members, Najee Seabrooks, was fatally shot by police last year when he lunged with a knife at officers in riot gear after an almost-five-hour stand-off during an apparent drug-induced mental health crisis.

Lisa Chowdhury, the Healing Collective’s executive director, declined to comment when a reporter asked her about Drakeford’s conviction.

Drakeford had been Healing Collective client, then employee

Drakeford had become a Healing Collective client in 2021 when he was injured in a street shooting in the area where UpTop allegedly operates. Drakeford — like others — made the transition from being a Healing Collective client to employee.

“Paterson Healing Collective gave me a chance to turn my life around,” Drakeford said in an interview in July 2022.

The following year, Drakeford was one of three Healing Collective members honored by Mayor Andre Sayegh for rescuing people from a house fire in Paterson.

Teddie Martinez, one the Healing Collective founders who was fired last year in a dispute with Chowdhury, declined to discuss Drakeford’s conviction. Martinez said some groups in Paterson are “selling these young people” to enhance their reputations.

“The focus is on making it look like they’re doing more than what they are doing,” said Martinez, who now works for the AG’s office as a community liaison in Paterson. “We’re supposed to be elevating these kids, but we’re not doing that.”

Four have pleaded guilty in UpTop gang case

Drakeford is one of four defendants in the federal case against UpTop who have pleaded guilty. One of them, Elton Baker, also has been sentenced to five years in prison, two weeks after Drakeford was, but has not yet started serving that sentence. The other two are awaiting sentencing. Charges are still pending against 10 others charged in the case.

Community leaders and law enforcement officials say Paterson’s drug gangs have been one of the major causes of gun violence in the city.

“Not only did they deal these dangerous drugs in Paterson, certain gang members are alleged to have had guns to solidify their control of the drug trade,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger when he announced the original charges in June 2023.

“We have no higher priority than taking apart these gangs and addressing the drivers of violence,” he said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Former Paterson outreach worker gets 5 years in drug gang case