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For his limited role in the 2017 invasion and robbery of a Waldorf home, a Derwood man received five years of unsupervised probation in Charles County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Jermel Andrico D’Aubrey Thomas, now 35, was 33 when he said he was invited by a family friend to what he thought was just a group hangout on Sept. 3, 2017. In court before Judge Amy J. Bragunier on Tuesday morning, Thomas said he was unaware of what was actually to transpire at the Elsa Court residence.

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Jonathan Beattie, that evening three men who posed as U.S. Marshals knocked on the door of the home and told the victims they were there on official business. Once inside, the men forced the victims downstairs into the basement, where they were bound and assaulted. The men fled the home with stolen money, handguns and marijuana and also stole a car from the victims before absconding. Children were present in the home at the time of the attack but were unharmed.

Beattie told the court Thomas was originally identified as a suspect through the phone records of his co-defendant, 35-year-old Bernard Green of Upper Marlboro. The records showed Green had contacted Thomas during the same time frame as the attack, Beattie said, and the calls were determined to have been transmitted through a cell phone tower near the scene of the crime.

Thomas, Green and 35-year-old Michael Damion Coffer of Waldorf were indicted in May 2018. When Thomas was arrested, Beattie said, he was “very cooperative” and remained so throughout the process. Although he never had to testify against any of his co-defendants, Beattie said Thomas had indicated he was willing to do so, and the information he provided to the state was reliable and helped them identify the other men involved, 36-year-olds Danzie Lee Barron of Washington, D.C., and Dakevis Larry Maryland of Glen Burnie.

Thomas’ defense attorney, Steven Kupferberg, called his client’s decision to even drive to the scene that day “the worst case of a lack of judgment [Thomas] ever made.” Having realized his mistake, Kupferberg said, Thomas’ cooperation in the case proved “instrumental” toward getting justice for the victims. Kupferberg also said Thomas knew his cooperation could potentially put him and his family at risk but he chose to proceed regardless.

Speaking to Bragunier, Thomas said Tuesday he was “truly apologetic” for what had transpired that day, and said he has been “trying to do right ever since.”

Bragunier questioned his level of involvement. She asked Thomas if he knew what they were at the house for the invasion. Thomas replied that he “didn’t realize what was about to take place.” He said “certain suggestions” were made, and he immediately realized he’d been misled.

“Once I figured it out, I said ‘Nah, I’m out of here,” Thomas said. He’d driven to the scene alone, he explained, and so left by himself. Thomas never entered the home that night.

“I’m deeply sorry this ever happened,” Thomas said.

For his role, Thomas received a five-year sentence with all but a day suspended, and he received credit for the day he’d already served when he was arrested. Thomas will be on unsupervised probation for five years.

In December, Dakevis Maryland received 12 years in prison and five years of supervised probation for home invasion as well as 13 years of suspended time. Coffer pleaded to conspiracy to commit home invasion and received a 10-year sentence in December. Barron pleaded guilty to home invasion and was sentenced to 10 years in January.

Green will be sentenced on Sept. 11.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/man-gets-probation-for-role-in-home-invasion/article_56b589eb-982e-51e7-8c66-f3c7538aa7ee.html

A Temple Hills man pleaded guilty to armed robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime on Monday, the same day his trial was scheduled to start.

Raymund Antoine Bradford, 42, was arrested in November 2018 and charged with the March 21, 2018, robbery of Drive Up Liquors in Faulkner, according to charging documents written by Det. C. Gregory of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office. Bradford was arrested based on DNA present on evidence found at both the Faulkner crime scene and one in St. Mary’s County.

Around 2 p.m. the day of the crime, according to the statement of charges, the suspect, later identified as Bradford, entered the liquor store and approached the counter, where a clerk was on the phone. The suspect pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded he get behind the counter while cocking the weapon.

The suspect produced a backpack he began to fill with cigarettes, according to the report, and also emptied the contents of the cash register into it. While stealing the cigarettes, “the gun fired and a round struck [the victim] in the arm,” but the suspect continued taking the cigarettes.

While the suspect was occupied, the clerk retrieved a baseball bat. When the clerk confronted him, he “sprayed [the victim] in the face with a liquid substance,” at which point the report says the victim retreated to the office and locked the door and the suspect fled. As he did, the report states, “the suspect dropped a knife that was attached to a lanyard around his neck.”

Later that night, a witness contacted the sheriff’s office about the robbery earlier in the day, according to the report. The witness told officers she saw the suspect, who she described as a skinny man dressed in black, running across U.S. 301 approximately 10 minutes after the crime had occurred.

The witness also said that shortly thereafter, she was behind a silver Jaguar with Washington, D.C., tags on Charles Street. While stopped at a traffic light in the area of the Zekiah Swamp Run bridge, the witness said, the driver of the car tossed out a black knit hat, which they felt was “odd behavior.”

The following day, according to the report, Det. Riffle of the CCSO reviewed a bulletin from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office about a robbery that had occurred at the McKay’s grocery store in Charlotte Hall. The suspect in that case was dressed similarly to the man who had robbed the Faulkner store and had left a screwdriver behind.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/temple-hills-man-pleads-guilty-to-armed-robbery/article_35b780e6-38cd-54b6-a2ba-b04dcdbc1934.html

Samuel Keith Gemeny’s life ended over a bong, a bed and a debt of less than $100. Two of the six people involved in his death learned their own fates Tuesday in Charles County Circuit Court.

Dominic Xavier Daniel, now 26, was 24 on May 16, 2017, when he and five others forced their way into Gemeny’s home. Gemeny, 35, and Daniel, according to charging documents, had briefly lived together, and Daniel had moved out in February or March 2017. That night, on the premise that Gemeny owed him money and was holding onto his bed and a co-defendant’s bong, Daniel and five others — Morgan Tyrone Rich Jr., 29; Dominique Ariel Grant, 30; Andrew Loren Webb, 26; Jared Jacob Hayes, 33, all of Waldorf, and Gabrielle Marie Ditella, 21, of Coatesville, Pa. — rode in two separate cars to Gemeny’s Promenade Place apartment in Waldorf, which he shared with his girlfriend who was home at the time of the attack.

Once they arrived, the six split up into two groups and entered the building: one forced a door open, while the other waited for a resident to leave and entered through the open door. The trio of Daniel, Rich and Grant descended on Gemeny’s apartment, knocked on the door and forced their way inside once his girlfriend answered the door. A confrontation ensued, and Gemeny hit Daniel in the head with an iPad.

In turn, Daniel shot Gemeny to death.

Daniel entered an Alford plea to first-degree murder, first-degree assault and use of a firearm during a crime of violence in February, the Maryland Independent reported. An Alford plea means that while the defendant acknowledges the court has sufficient proof against them to secure a guilty verdict, they do not admit their guilt. According to the plea agreement, the sentence for all three counts will run concurrently.

Until Tuesday, Rich was the only one of the six who had not entered a plea, and was scheduled to stand trial beginning July 22. Before Circuit Court Judge H. James “Jay” West that morning, Rich pleaded guilty to the same three counts as Daniel: first-degree murder, first-degree assault and a weapons charge related to the murder.

As part of the plea agreement, Rich was sentenced to 40 years for Gemeny’s murder. He received 20 years for the weapons charge and 25 for the assault. The latter two counts will run concurrent with the murder charge, and when released Rich will be on five years of supervised probation.

Later in the day, Daniel appeared before Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier. Despite Daniel’s plea that he “be perceived with an open heart and open mind” and therefore sentenced leniently, Bragunier sentenced him to life for Gemeny’s murder. Although he was granted the possibility of parole — as was Rich — in Maryland, parole determinations for those guilty of first-degree murder are determined on a case-by-case basis by the governor.

Gemeny’s family and friends were present in the courtrooms for both cases Tuesday, some of them wearing “Justice for Sam” shirts with Gemeny’s picture on the back, posing with a fish he’d caught. In both cases, his loved ones spoke at length about the man they lost that night.

“This man I never met before that night changed my life in a minute,” Gemeny’s girlfriend said of Rich at his sentencing. “I can forgive all those involved because of the religion I’ve found that I never knew I had, but my life will never be the same. Their lives will never be the same.”

Gemeny was “a good man who would have done anything for anyone,” his girlfriend told the court. “I pray justice is served, and that something good can come out of this.”

Gemeny’s sister-in-law recalled his “ridiculous tight hugs … his stupid laugh and his big goofy grin.” Gemeny was fond of telling bad jokes, she recalled, and now she and the rest of the family would give anything to hear one of those jokes again.

“I’ll never get to hear him say ‘I love you, little sister’ one last time,” the woman said to Rich. “The single moment of my life that defines you will be the moment you stole my brother’s life. Even though it hurts really bad, I forgive you all.”

Rich’s mother made no excuses for her son, saying that although she tried her hardest to raise him right she “lost him somewhere along the line.”

“I just ask that you guys can find it in your heart to forgive him,” she said. “This is not what a mother plans for her son, for both Morgan and Samuel.”

Gemeny’s uncle also spoke at both sentencing hearings. The man said Samuel wasn’t the first relative he’d lost ahead of his time, and that his brother had been murdered years before. He hoped that Rich, he said, “can find his way.”

Regarding Daniel, the man was much less forgiving.

“I hope you go straight to hell,” Gemeny’s uncle said, adding he felt Daniel has “a dark soul.”

“I hope you get life in prison, and I hope you die there. You’ll go straight to hell as far as I’m concerned.”

In delivering Rich’s sentence, Judge West said he couldn’t wrap his head around why the man had allowed his life to go down such a dark path when he had so much love and support from family.

“One day your daughter will need you and you won’t be there. Maybe it will hit you then,” West said.

Judge Bragunier’s remarks to Daniel were succinct, and also focused on the senselessness of that night.

“You’re asking for leniency, but you didn’t show Mr. Gemeny any,” Bragunier said.

Daniel was represented by defense attorney Benjamine Evan, and Rich by Keith Parris. Assistant State’s Attorneys Constance Kopelman and Andre Bruce prosecuted both cases.

Grant pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June 2018, and is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 28.

Ditellla pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit home invasion in May 2018, as did Hayes to conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and Webb to conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary.

All three will be sentenced July 31.

Originally Posted on The Maryland Independent:

https://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/two-sentenced-in-shooting-death/article_3fe85549-af04-51ad-ab2d-4792c3bee023.html