FIVE MEN INDICTED ON MURDER FOR HIRE CHARGES

Five men were indicted on April 5, 2006 for conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy announced today. The indictment, unsealed April 13, 2006, in federal district court, alleges that Roy Christopher West, 31, of Akron, Ohio; Marcus Lamont Freeman, 27, of Detroit; Michael Eldren Bracey, 36, of Detroit,; Alvino Dewight Cornelius, 30, of Warren; and Alseddrick Dewunn West, 34, of Akron Ohio, conspired to murder Leonard Day, a Detroit resident, who was 34 years old when he was murdered on Kilbourne Street in Detroit, on December 20, 2005.

U.S. Attorney Murphy was joined in the announcement by Daniel D. Roberts, Special Agent In Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bracey and Alseddrick West were arrested on April 13, 2006. Freeman is under the custody of Wayne County on unrelated state charges. Roy West and CorneliuS are being sought for arrest at this time.

The indictment charges that, on or about November 10, 2005, Leonard Day stole about $100,000 in U.S. currency, about $250,000 worth of jewelry and a firearm from the home of Roy West in Ohio, and then fled back to Detroit.

The grand jury further charged that after discovering the theft, Roy West used a cellular telephone to inform Cornelius, Bracey and others of the theft and to instruct them to begin searching for Day. According to the indictment, Cornelius, Bracey and Alseddrick West each expressed an intent to kill Day and/or Day’s family and associates and those defendants further assisted in the search for Day.

The grand jury charged that in December 2005, Freeman contacted West by cellular telephone asking about the location of a house on Kilbourne Street in Detroit and that Freeman later told Roy West that he “got it.” According to the indictment, on November 20, 2006, Day was shot to death in the driveway of a house on Kilbourne Street. The grand jury furhter charged that a) at about the same time, Freeman telephoned Roy West singing, “We get rich, Ohio,” and saying that “the situation is over with;” b) that Freeman then said that he and “Steve” were heading to Ohio to see Roy West; and c) that thereafter, Marcus Lamont Freeman went to Ohio and received a payment from Roy Christopher West for the murder of Leonard Day.

“The conduct charged by the grand jury in this case is reprehensible,” U.S. Attorney Murphy said. “Any criminal act resulting in the intentional taking of human life is of course the most serious that our office deals with and we will do all we can to hold individuals fully responsible for this sort of behavior.”

The subject charge carries a penalty of life imprisonment or death, and a fine of no more than $250,000.00.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

These charges and subsequent arrests are the result of a joint investigation involving the Detroit office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Detroit Police Department, and the Greater Akron Area HIDTA Initiative, which is a task force led by the Akron offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Agency. Mr. Murphy also expressed appreciation for the cooperation and assistance of the United States Attorney’s Office in Akron, Ohio. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth A. Stafford and Michael C. Leibson.