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Charges, defendants, added in East Side drug case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Assistant Mahoning County Prosecutor Martin Desmond called six people indicted Thursday – three of whom already were facing murder charges – “the worst of the worst.”
The new defendants in the case, which stretches back to 2011 and the murder of a former East Side gang leader, are Vincent Moorer, 31, Melvin Johnson, 30, and Nahdia Baker, 28. All were indicted by a county grand jury Thursday.
They join Dewaylin Colvin, 33, and Michael Austin, 21, who each face four counts of aggravated murder; and Hakeem Henderson, 23, who is charged with two murders Colvin and Austin are accused of committing.
“These are the worst people on the streets,” Desmond said.
The grand jury tacked two additional murder counts onto Henderson’s charges, and Moorer also was charged with two counts of aggravated murder.
All six are indicted on charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Additional charges in the 16-page indictment include attempted murder, aggravated arson, shooting into a habitation, burglary and drug and firearms offenses.
Desmond said all six were part of a drug ring that made more than $1 million in profits and also shot at several other people.
Austin, Colvin and Henderson were indicted in March 2013 in the slayings of Adam Christian, 23, former leader of the Vic Boyz street gang, and Raymond “Remel” Hayes. They were killed Nov. 13 and 16, 2011, respectively, on the East Side.
Austin, Colvin and Henderson also face charges in the September 2012 death of Ryan Slade, 20, and Keara McCullough, 19, who were found shot to death in a car on Benford Lane, also on the East Side. The two counts of aggravated murder Moorer faces are for that double homicide, and Henderson also is charged in that crime.
Moorer, Johnson and Baker are accused of setting fire to a car at a rival’s home on the West Side in May 2014. When people came outside to see what was going on, the three then fired AK-47 assault rifles at their homes, Desmond said.
The enterprise they are accused of operating included selling drugs and committing murders, attempted murders, shootings and arsons, according to the indictment.
Desmond said Colvin was the reputed leader.
Desmond said what made them so dangerous was they were not a gang. He said gang members are typically younger people who do things to get themselves noticed. This group, however, was made up of older members who were experienced criminals. They already had served prison time, and when they were released from prison, they used that experience to sell drugs for a huge profit. Because they were making large profits, they had access to other resources that typical gang members do not, Desmond said.
“They’re more dangerous than street guys,” Desmond said. “They could make money quick.”
Desmond said investigators knew more people were involved after they got Colvin, Henderson and Austin indicted and investigators kept digging. He said there are more people who were involved as well.
Desmond credited Youngstown police officer Bob Patton of the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, along with his brother, Detective Sgt. John Patton of the city police department, and his colleagues, Detective Sgts. Ron Rodway and Pat Kelly and Lt. Doug Bobovnyik.
“We always had a good idea of who was involved,” Desmond said. “It was just the process of getting it all wrapped up together.”