Former Boston academic dean sentenced for recruiting students into gang, having them sell drugs

BOSTON (TCD) — A former Boston Public Schools academic dean was sentenced to over 18 years in federal prison for recruiting at-risk high school students into a gang and running a drug selling operation at the school.

In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced Judge Rya Zobel sentenced Shaun “Rev” Harrison to 218 months in prison with 98 months of time served for conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity. That crime is commonly known as RICO conspiracy.

He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Harrison pleaded guilty in August 2022. In December 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts indicted 62 people on racketeering, drug, and firearms charges. Sixty of those people pleaded guilty while two remain on the run.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Harrison was a member of the Latin King and Queen Nation, also known as the Latin Kings gang, which “uses drug distribution to generate revenue, and engages in violence against witnesses and rival gangs to further its influence and to protect its turf.”

Harrison started working for Boston Public Schools in 2015 as academic dean of English High School. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Harrison’s job roles included mediating between students and teachers, working with families when students were struggling in school, running an anger management program, and helping at-risk students.

Harrison reportedly recruited several at-risk students to the Latin Kings and ordered them to sell drugs to other students. Then, Harrison would take the money.

The statement says in March 2015, Harrison became suspicious that one of the students pocketed the money, didn’t want to sell drugs anymore, and would tell police about what was happening at the school. On March 3, 2015, Harrison reportedly met up with the student at a McDonald’s and shot him in the head. Surveillance footage captured the incident, and the student survived.

The student told investigators about Harrison’s actions at the high school, including recruiting students into the Latin Kings and selling drugs on campus. Harrison was previously convicted of attempted murder and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison for that charge.

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