Wilmington Man Pleads Guilty to 2017 Murder

Prosecutors also secure convictions for firearm, drug dealing, and racketeering charges

A 40-year-old man who left a trail of blood from a homicide scene to his apartment complex pled guilty to murder. In October 2017, Timothy Jones stabbed a female victim numerous times inside a Porta-Potty in Kirkwood Park on the 600 block of East 11th Street in Wilmington. In the days following the homicide police found Jones near the park with a freshly bandaged hand. Forensic evidence and surveillance videos helped link Jones to the murder.  Jones pled guilty to Murder Second Degree and Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony. A Superior Court judge will sentence Jones later this year. Deputy Attorneys General Phillip Casale, Marc Petrucci, and Brian Robertson prosecuted the case with the assistance of paralegal Jaime Prater and social worker Donna Lindsey. Detective Mackenzie Kirlin of the Wilmington Police Department, as well as Wilmington PD’s Patrol and Criminal Investigations Divisions worked to investigate and help secure this result.

Maurice Cooper, a subject of a lengthy joint task force investigation into gun violence and drug trafficking, was convicted by a Superior Court jury on several heroin and firearms charges. Cooper, 38, of Wilmington was arrested in January 2018, after police served search warrants on multiple locations and found Cooper to be in possession of both raw and packaged heroin, a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, a pistol grip 12-gauge shotgun, a 9mm semi-automatic with a loaded and extended magazine, and an AR-15 assault rifle with four loaded magazines. The jury found Cooper, barred from having any guns or ammunition because of previous and separate convictions for Murder Second Degree and Trafficking Heroin, guilty of Drug Dealing Tier 4 Heroin, Aggravated Possession of Tier 5 Heroin, 4 counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, 4 counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and 2 counts of Possession of Ammunition by a Person Prohibited.  The same jury heard evidence of a criminal enterprise in and around Riverside public housing neighborhood, and found that this enterprise existed to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, by committing the same crimes as Cooper, along with Money Laundering.  Cooper will be sentenced by a Superior Court judge later this year.  Deputy Attorneys General Mark Denney and Erika Flaschner prosecuted the case.  These results would not have been possible without the work of Detective Steven Barnes of the Wilmington Police, Special Agent Shawn Haney of the FBI, and paralegal Shanaya Eyong of the Department of Justice.

A Wilmington man who sold drugs while the subject of a joint investigation of the DEA and Wilmington Police was sentenced to prison. Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Song secured the sentence for 25-year-old Shockee Wilson. In the fall of 2017, Wilson conducted 2 drug deals, one involving over 40 grams of heroin. A Superior Court judge sentenced Wilson, who pled guilty in October 2018 to Drug Dealing Heroin and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, to 2 years in prison, followed by 18 months of probation.