LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Thursday, August 29, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge Monise A. Brown sentenced Pio Arnoldo Flores, 56, of Bryantown, to 12 years in prison for the Sexual Abuse of a Minor. Flores will be on supervised probation for five years upon release from prison. Flores will also have to register as a Tier III sex offender after his release and comply with lifetime sexual offender supervision conditions.
On April 16, 2024, Flores pled guilty to the aforementioned charge.
On November 14, 2023, officers with Charles County Sheriff’s Office made contact with the then 16-year-old victim after receiving a report from the Department of Human Services alleging child sexual abuse. The victim reported that Flores began assaulting her in April 2020 when she was 13 years old. An investigation revealed that Flores began touching the victim inappropriately, which eventually progressed to sexual acts with the victim. The last incident was on October 29, 2023.
Flores knew the victim since she was an infant.
At sentencing, the Assistant State’s Attorney assigned to the case told the judge that Flores committed “the worst of the worst acts that constitute Sex Abuse of a Minor.” She also stated that “the psychological scars will affect this young lady for the rest of her life.”
Sentence Count 1: Sex Abuse of a Minor • 20 years with all but 12 years suspended • Five years of supervised probation
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Monday, August 26, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge William R. Greer, Jr. sentenced Dustin Marcel Brown, 39, of Waldorf, to 35 years in prison for five counts of Child Pornography: Film in Sex Act. Brown will be on supervised probation for five years after his release. Upon his release, he is also required to register as a Tier II sex offender for 25 years.
Brown pleaded guilty to the aforementioned charges on March 8, 2024.
On August 29, 2023, officers with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence in Waldorf for the report of a suspicious item located inside the residence. Officers spoke with the victim’s mother upon arrival. The victim’s mother reported that she located a hidden camera inside a ceiling-mounted smoke alarm in her then-16-year-old daughter’s bedroom.
An investigation revealed that Brown, who was known to the victim and her mother, installed the camera in the victim’s bedroom without their knowledge. Two micro-SD cards were recovered from inside the residence. The SD cards contained over 4,000 video clips. One of the SD cards contained 81 videos identified as pornography.
During the investigation, Brown admitted to installing the camera.
During sentencing, the Assistant State’s Attorney assigned to the case told the judge, “This young lady, her mother, and [Brown’s] children will forever be changed and impacted by [Brown’s] actions.” She furthered that Brown was supposed to protect the victim, not act in his own “selfish, self-satisfying interest.”
State v. Joseph John Bonaiuto, Jr., C-08-CR-24-000064
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Thursday, August 22, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge Donine Carrington Martin sentenced Joseph John Bonaiuto, Jr., 56, of Waldorf, to 8 years in prison for First-Degree Assault and Fourth-Degree Sexual Offense. Bonaiuto will be on supervised probation for five years upon release. Upon his release, he is also required to register as a Tier I sex offender for 15 years.
On June 24, 2024, Bonaiuto pleaded guilty to the aforementioned charges.
On December 26, 2023, officers responded to Bonaiuto’s residence in Waldorf for a welfare check after receiving a call from Bonaiuto’s brother stating that he was holding the victim hostage. The victim, who was Bonaiuto’s significant other, opened the door when the officers arrived and appeared to have been crying before their arrival. Officers also made contact with Bonaiuto, who stated that he pointed a firearm at his head and the victim’s head.
An investigation revealed that during the evening hours of December 25, 2023, Bonaiuto and the victim were located inside their residence when Bonaiuto became frustrated with the victim. After taking a walk, Bonaiuto went to his bedroom to retrieve his firearm. Bonaiuto unloaded the firearm, put it to his head, and pulled the trigger. He then went downstairs with the unloaded firearm and ordered the victim to get on her knees. Bonaiuto asked the victim if she was scared of him; the victim replied yes. He then put the firearm to the victim’s head and pulled the trigger. Bonaiuto dropped the firearm after the victim flinched. Shortly after, he forced the victim to perform a sexual act on him. During the assault, Bonaiuto let the victim have breaks to cry, blow her nose, and get a drink. After the assault, Bonaiuto and the victim eventually went to sleep. Bonaiuto slept in his bed while the victim slept on the couch.
The next day, Bonaiuto drove to the courthouse to obtain divorce paperwork. He also drove to his daughter’s residence and told her some of the details of the assault. The daughter reported the assault to Bonaiuto’s brother, who called the police.
Bonaiuto admitted to officers that he assaulted the victim over the course of hours and told them that he was being a “disgusting degenerate to her” and treated her “as badly as she deserved to be treated in that moment”.
During sentencing, the Assistant State’s Attorney assigned to the case asked that Bonaiuto be sentenced to 20 years in prison with an additional 6 years suspended due to “the gravity of the offense.” She told the judge that Bonaiuto “needs to be held accountable for his actions” and that the victim did not deserve to be treated in the “inhuman, cruel, violent, self-serving manner” that Bonaiuto treated her.
Before sentencing Bonaiuto, the Honorable Judge Carrington Martin told him, “For hours upon hours, [the victim] was abused by you.” She furthered that “the consequences of your actions, regardless of the sentence, is you hurt her.”
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Friday, August 23, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West sentenced Andre Taylor, 63, to Life in prison for the First-Degree Murder of Vickie Lynn Belk. Taylor was convicted of the aforementioned charge by a Charles County jury on July 18, 2024.
On August 28, 1979, Belk’s then-boyfriend reported her missing to the Prince George’s County Police Department after last seeing her the day before at their shared place of work in Washington, D.C. Belk had not returned to her apartment in Suitland, MD.
On August 29, 1979, a local teenager called 911 after noticing a body on the ground in a wooded location in the area of Metropolitan Church Road and Route 227. Officers with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) responded to the location and discovered the body of a woman with a gunshot wound to the right side of her head and undressed from the waist down.
On August 30, 1979, Belk was positively identified as the woman who was discovered in the wooded area. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore ruled her cause of death to be from the gunshot wound.
Investigators recovered, processed, and maintained evidence during the initial investigation; however, the case went cold. In the following years, several detectives worked on the case. In more recent years, Detective Sergeant John Elliott of the CCSO’s Criminal Investigations Division continued the investigation and worked with various agencies to pursue leads.
As forensic technology advanced, the evidence of the murder continued to be re-examined. In 2022, the CCSO’s Forensic Science Section re-evaluated the evidence and submitted Belk’s clothing for testing with newer technology. A profile was developed and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national DNA database.
On November 1, 2022, Noelle Gehrman, the Deputy Director of the CCSO’s Forensic Science Section, was notified of a DNA match between the profiles developed from the evidence obtained from the Belk case and Taylor.
While investigating Taylor’s background, detectives learned that he was arrested for violent crimes that occurred in Washington, D.C. It was also discovered that Taylor lived at a residence in Bryan’s Road around the time of the murder. The address was less than 4 miles from where Belk’s body was discovered. Taylor also had connections to the area of Washington, D.C. where it is believed that Belk was abducted.
Detectives began trying to locate Taylor, but he had no known address since 2019. In collaboration with the United States Homeland Security Investigations, DC Metropolitan Police Department Homicide, and the U.S. Secret Service Baltimore Field Office, detectives of the CCSO were able to locate Taylor in Washington, D.C., where he resided.
On June 22, 2023, Taylor was arrested by detectives assigned to the CCSO’s Criminal Investigations Division, CCSO’s Warrant/Fugitive Unit, the United States Marshals Service, Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, and members of the Metropolitan Police Department.
In an interview with detectives, Taylor admitted to actions that amounted to the rape of Belk, but he denied having any part in her murder.
At the time of the murder, Belk was 28 years old, and Taylor was 18 years old. There is no evidence that indicates that Belk and Taylor knew each other before the incident.
During sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney John Stackhouse told the judge that the incident caused “generational trauma because it went on for 45 years. [Belk’s] son grew up without a mother. Her parents had to bury their daughter. Her parents had to lay on their deathbed not knowing who killed their daughter. Her grandchildren never got a chance to meet their grandmother. – Yet all throughout this case, I’ve never seen a family with so much grit, determination, and grace.” He furthered that “when you victimize someone like this and then murder them, it really doesn’t get more horrific than that.” Echoing the word of Belk’s son, he asked the judge to “use the power you have to get justice, and justice in this case is Life.”
Before sentencing Taylor to Life in prison, the Honorable Judge West said that Belk “had a presence or spirit that has endured in ways that I’ve honestly never seen before,” furthering that the “victim leaves a tremendous legacy, and the family carries on a tremendous legacy.” He also stated that “the crime is a horrific loss of a life – the violence was extreme. The amount of fear and terror that preceded the violence doesn’t exist in most cases. [The incident was] so heinous, I can’t think of a lesser sentence that would be appropriate.”
State v. Sabrina Cocheye Embrey, C-08-CR-23-000881
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Thursday, August 15, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge Makeba Gibbs sentenced Sabrina Cocheye Embrey, 51, of Waldorf, to 6 months in jail for Second-Degree Child Abuse and Second-Degree Assault. Embrey will be on supervised probation for three years upon release.
On May 16, 2024, a Charles County jury found Embrey guilty of the aforementioned charges.
On October 3, 2023, an officer with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence in Waldorf for the report of a domestic assault. An investigation revealed that Embrey got into a verbal disagreement with the 12-year-old victim, who was living with her. The disagreement escalated in Embrey’s bedroom, and she threatened the victim with pepper spray. The victim left Embrey’s bedroom however, Embrey followed the victim into his bedroom with pepper spray. The victim became combative, and Embrey pepper sprayed him.
Embrey previously used pepper spray on the victim during a separate altercation and was warned by Child Protective Services not to do it again.
During sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Edward Stickles told the judge, “It is the State’s hope that this never happens again.” Assistant State’s Attorney Blaec Shaw furthered that Embrey “very clearly antagonized the victim throughout the incident” and that she took “action both physically and mentally that will forever affect [the victim].”
State v. Deanthony Lamont Warrick, C-08-CR-23-000298
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge William R. Greer, Jr. sentenced Deanthony Lamont Warrick, 35, of Indian Head, to Life Without Parole (LWOP) in prison for the First-Degree Murder of Jasmine Lakesha Hicks and related charges. Warrick was convicted of the charges by a Charles County jury on June 6, 2024.
In commenting on the Court’s sentence, Covington said, “The decision to seek a LWOP sentence – the most serious penalty in the State of Maryland – is mine and not made lightly. Unless I give the defendant advance notice that we are seeking LWOP, the Court cannot impose it. We did give proper notice in this case, and I am gratified that the Court, having heard all the evidence at trial and all the testimony and arguments during sentencing, saw this case the way I did and imposed LWOP. The vicious and callous way he committed this crime, in my mind, says he should never walk free in our community again. He purposefully and permanently erased Jasmine Hicks from this planet – forever. Justice requires he be held accountable. The jury held him accountable with their verdict and the Judge imposed the proper and just sentence we requested.”
On April 12, 2023, in the early morning hours, officers responded to a residence in Bryans Road for the report of an unconscious female in the yard. Upon arrival, officers discovered Ms. Hicks lying in the yard with several stab wounds. Unfortunately, she was pronounced deceased at the scene.
An investigation of the murder revealed that Warrick and Ms. Hicks were outside of Warrick’s residence prior to the stabbing. Warrick and Ms. Hicks began engaging in a verbal altercation about items that Warrick claimed had been stolen from him by another individual. During the altercation, Warrick began stabbing Ms. Hicks about her head, face, neck, shoulders, back, chest, abdomen, and arms. An autopsy revealed 20 distinct wounds on Ms. Hicks.
Audio of the murder was captured on a nearby surveillance camera. As Warrick was repeatedly stabbing Ms. Hicks, he can be heard to say, “Don’t make me kill you.” After the stabbing, Warrick fled the scene leaving Ms. Hicks in the yard. She remained there from midnight until approximately 6:30 a.m. when her body was discovered by a neighborhood resident.
During the investigation, Warrick confessed to the murder.
At sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Caspar told the Court, “If I have ever seen a case that deserves life without parole, it is this one. The defendant left her in that yard, all alone, in the dark, to bleed to death. And, as we know from the surveillance audio, her death did not come mercifully quick. She suffered greatly before her death. This was vile, malicious, and vengeful.”
Judge Greer, in sentencing the Defendant, said, “This was a heartless death…cold-blooded and vile.”
Sentence
First-Degree Murder of Jasmine Lakesha Hicks
Life Without Parole
Wear and Carry of a Dangerous Weapon with the Intent and Purpose of Injuring Jasmine Lakesha Hicks
3 years
Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance to wit: Phencyclidine
1 year
Possession of a Regulated Firearm, to wit: Taurus 9mm handgun, after being convicted of a crime of violence
15 years
Possession of a Regulated Firearm, Rifle/Shotgun, after being convicted of a crime of violence
State v. Jeremiah Terrell Bryant, C-08-CR-24-000146
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Friday, August 2, 2024, a Charles County jury, after a 5-day trial, convicted Jeremiah Terrell Bryant, 25, of Armed Robbery and related charges.
On January 9, 2024, detectives with Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Sunoco Gas Mart in Waldorf for the report of a commercial armed robbery. Detectives spoke with a store employee who reported that the suspect, later determined to be Bryant, pointed a semi-automatic handgun at him and took money from the cash register and the employee’s phone.
An investigation revealed that Bryant entered the store, approached the sales counter, and handed the employee a brown plastic shopping bag while simultaneously pointing a handgun at him. Bryant demanded the employee to put money in the bag. When the employee opened the cash register, Bryant reached over the counter and took $494.00 from the cash register. He then left with the cash and the employee’s cell phone. However, Bryant left the plastic bag at the store.
Surveillance video captured the incident, as well as Bryant arriving and leaving in a Mitsubishi Outlander with a broken passenger side mirror. Detectives later located the Mitsubishi Outlander outside of Bryant’s mother’s residence.
The plastic bag Bryant left on the scene was processed and the fingerprints recovered belonged to Bryant. Cell site analysis of Bryant’s cell phone also placed him at the scene of the Armed Robbery.
A sentencing date for Bryant has been set for September 26, 2024. Bryant faces up to 78 years in prison.
CONVICTED
Armed Robbery
Two Counts of Use of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime of Violence
State v. Marvin Ernesto Funez-Martinez, C-08-CR-23-000840
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Friday, July 26, 2024, a Charles County jury, after a 10-day trial, convicted Marvin Ernesto Funez-Martinez, 22, of White Plains, of the Second-Degree Murder of Marco Alexander Pulido-Castro and the Wear and Carry of a Dangerous Weapon with the Intent to Injure.
In the early morning hours of October 29, 2023, officers responded to a residence in White Plains for the report of an assault and stabbing. While at the scene, officers located victim Pulido-Castro in the trunk of a Nissan Sentra. The victim was found unresponsive in the fetal position and had numerous stab wounds. Unfortunately, the victim was pronounced deceased at the scene.
An investigation revealed that Funez-Martinez hired the victim to drive him and two other individuals to a club in Washington, D.C. The victim went into the club with the occupants of the vehicle. The victim then drove Funez-Martinez and the other individuals back to their home in White Plains. Before they arrived in White Plains, the victim stopped at a gas station, where he requested additional money for gas. The victim’s vehicle began overheating at the gas station; however, he was still able to drive the occupants to their home.
On the way to White Plains, Funez-Martinez and the victim were involved in a small argument because the victim requested more money.
Upon arrival at the residence, the victim’s engine continued overheating, and the victim remained outside. Funez-Martinez, who was already carrying a pocketknife, went inside his residence and retrieved a larger knife from the kitchen. The victim was checking under the hood of the vehicle when Funez-Martinez returned outside, and Funez-Martinez began stabbing the victim repeatedly. The victim tried to escape to a yard across the street, but Funez-Martinez followed him and continued to stab him. Funez-Martinez ultimately stabbed the victim 59 times and knocked out multiple teeth. After the stabbing, Funez-Martinez dragged the victim to his vehicle and placed his body in the trunk. He then fled to the rear of his residence. Witnesses reported Funez-Martinez’s location to responding officers, who apprehended him that morning. At the time of arrest, Funez-Martinez had multiple cuts on his hand.
During the investigation, Funez-Martinez admitted to the murder. The victim’s blood was found on Funez-Martinez’s hands, the knife used in the attack, as well as the sweatshirt that Funez-Martinez was wearing.
A sentencing date for Funez-Martinez has been set for October 23, 2024. He faces 43 years in prison.
State v. Daevian Davon Christian Hurd, C-08-CR-21-000408
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge Makeba Gibbs sentenced Daevian Davon Christian Hurd, 23, of Indian Head, to 5 years in prison for the Sexual Abuse of a Minor.
On July 31, 2023, Hurd entered a guilty plea to the above-mentioned charge.
On March 8, 2021, a detective with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office received a copy of an interview conducted with the victim by the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services. In the interview, the victim reported that she was sexually assaulted by Hurd on multiple occasions.
An investigation revealed that Hurd made sexual contact with the victim, touching her inappropriately over her clothes, at a residence in Indian Head on multiple occasions from 2018 through 2019. The victim was in third grade when the assaults began.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Hurd was incarcerated in Prince George’s County for separate sexual assault charges involving different victims that occurred in Prince George’s County.
Pictured above: Belk Family with Prosecutors and Investigators
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Thursday, July 18, 2024, a Charles County jury, after a 9-day trial and approximately two hours of deliberation, convicted Andre Taylor, 63, of the 1979 First-Degree Murder and First-Degree Rape of Vickie Lynn Belk.
Commenting on the case, State’s Attorney Tony Covington said, “I can’t give enough credit to the Assistant State’s Attorneys that put in ridiculously long hours and effort to achieve justice in this case. John Stackhouse and Jonathan Beattie were phenomenal. And the Sheriff’s Office in this cold case investigation, led by Detective Sergeant John Elliott and all the other police officers in this case should know I don’t take their work for granted. These cold cases are rarely solved. They get solved with dogged determination and talent. I am very grateful that Charles County, after 45 years, was able to bring some closure for the Belk family and justice for Vickie Lynn Belk.”
On August 28, 1979, Belk’s then-boyfriend reported her missing to the Prince George’s County Police Department after last seeing her the day before at their shared place of work in Washington, D.C. Belk had not returned to her apartment in Suitland, MD.
On August 29, 1979, a local teenager called 911 after noticing a body on the ground in a wooded location in the area of Metropolitan Church Road and Route 227. Officers with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) responded to the location and discovered the body of a woman with a gunshot wound to the right side of the head and undressed from the waist down.
On August 30, 1979, Belk was positively identified as the woman who was discovered in the wooded area. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore ruled her cause of death to be from the gunshot wound.
Investigators recovered, processed, and maintained evidence during the initial investigation; however, the case went cold. In the following years, several detectives worked on the case. In more recent years, Detective Sergeant John Elliott of the CCSO’s Criminal Investigations Division continued the investigation and worked with various agencies to pursue leads.
As forensic technology advanced, the evidence of the murder continued to be re-examined. In 2022, the CCSO’s Forensic Science Section re-evaluated the evidence and submitted Belk’s clothing for testing with newer technology. A profile was developed and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national DNA database.
On November 1, 2022, Noelle Gehrman, the Deputy Director of the CCSO’s Forensic Science Section, was notified of a DNA match between the profiles developed from the evidence obtained from the Belk case and Taylor.
While investigating Taylor’s background, detectives learned that he was arrested for violent crimes that occurred in Washington, D.C. It was also discovered that Taylor lived at a residence in Bryan’s Road around the time of the murder. The address was less than 4 miles from where Belk’s body was discovered. Taylor also had connections to the area of Washington, D.C. where it is believed that Belk was abducted.
Detectives began trying to locate Taylor, but he had no known address since 2019. In collaboration with the United States Homeland Security Investigations, DC Metropolitan Police Department Homicide, and the U.S. Secret Service Baltimore Field Office, detectives of the CCSO were able to locate Taylor in Washington, D.C., where he resided.
On June 22, 2023, Taylor was arrested by detectives assigned to the CCSO’s Criminal Investigations Division, CCSO’s Warrant/Fugitive Unit, the United States Marshals Service, Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, and members of the Metropolitan Police Department.
In an interview with detectives, Taylor admitted to actions that amounted to the rape of Belk, but he denied having any part in her murder.
At the time of the murder, Belk was 28 years old, and Taylor was 18 years old. There is no evidence that indicates that Belk and Taylor knew each other before the incident.
A sentencing date has been set for September 6, 2024. Taylor faces Life in prison for First-Degree Murder and Life in prison for First-Degree Rape.
