ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WRIC) — A Virginia woman will serve more than 15 months in prison after she colluded with imprisoned gang members to intimidate witnesses in a murder trial last year.
Keira Ta, 27, was convicted of witness tampering after she publicly posted the names of several people set to testify against members of the Reccless Tigers, a street gang with members in Northern Virginia and California.
Four of the Reccless Tigers were convicted last year of drug trafficking and the brutal murder of Brandon White, who had planned to testify against a member of the gang.
Ta herself was not named in that case, but as the trial was set to begin, she took to Instagram, naming several key witnesses.
“Thereafter, the trial was delayed and certain witnesses in the trial later refused to identify the leader of the gang in open court because of the defendant’s threat,” the U.S. attorney’s office for Eastern Virginia wrote in a press release.
According to a statement of facts agreed to by Ta as part of her guilty plea, the FBI received a tip that Ta had posted the veiled threats on Instagram the day before the trial was set to begin.
An investigation revealed that Ta had called one of the defendants, Tony Le, at the Alexandria Detention Center, where he was awaiting trial. Le gave Ta the names of witnesses who would be called by the prosecution the next day — and told her to “send it to people so they can watch… send it to the- all [WITNESS 1]’s people.”
When Ta attempted to attend the trial the next day, federal agents arrested her in the courthouse and searched her car, recovering a phone and finding additional incriminating messages.
Among them was a text from an unidentified person reading, “I’m sure you gon see some mfs going in there to testify.”
Ta responded, “That’s exactly what I’m trying to see.”
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors requested a sentence of 21 months, noting Ta’s acceptance of responsibility, lack of criminal history and expressions of heartfelt remorse.
Still, they noted that in the context of the Reccless Tigers trial, “obstruction of justice—and in
particular witness tampering—was necessary to the survival of the gang.”
They added that actions like Ta’s lead to very real acts of violence and retaliation. One witness’s family home was firebombed and vandalized after he testified against the Reccless Tigers.
Ta’s own sentencing memorandum was placed under seal by the court upon her request, citing privacy concerns related to mental factors outlined in the document.
Ta was ultimately sentenced to 15 months in prison.
