Contact: Julia Lawes – 302-577-8901

Murder Plea, Four More Pleas in Racketeering Case

Deputy Attorneys General Dan McBride and Eric Towne secured a guilty plea for murder from a 39-year-old Wilmington man. Thomas Hollingsworth pled guilty to two counts of Murder 2nd and one count of PFDCF, with open sentencing. Hollingsworth is facing a minimum of 35 years in prison when he is sentenced by a Superior Court judge on January 25, 2019. Hollingsworth was charged with the shooting deaths of Ainsley Cumberbatch and Jamil Congo on North Market Street in Wilmington in February 2017.

Four more defendants charged in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case involving racketeering, drug dealing, and money laundering, recently pled guilty and received prison sentences. A grand jury handed up a 151-count indictment in October 2017 against 54 co-defendants operating as part of a criminal enterprise doing business in Wilmington between January 2015 and October 2017. Some of the defendants involved in the case were charged federally last week. DOJ staff Shanaya Eyong and Shannon Daniels have been instrumental in assisting the prosecutors with the case. Deputy Attorneys General Mark Denney and Annemarie Puit prosecuted the following cases in state court:

• Harold Ellington, 51, of New Castle, pled guilty to charges of Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, Drug Dealing Cocaine and Money Laundering, with a sentence from a Superior Court judge of 28 years prison time suspended after 3 years for 2 years and 6 months of Probation.
• Lawrence Flowers, 26, of Newark, pled guilty to Conspiracy Second Degree and Drug Dealing Heroin, with a sentence from a Superior Court judge of 12 years prison time suspended for 21 months of probation.
• Richard Ellington, 54, of New Castle, pled guilty to two counts of Conspiracy Second Degree and one count of Money Laundering, and was sentenced by a Superior Court judge to 12 years prison time suspended for 1 year of probation.
• Nakisha Jones, 42, of New Castle, pled guilty to Conspiracy 3rd and received 1 year in prison suspended for 6 months of probation from a Superior Court judge.

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