Prison time for other defendants on murder, weapons, racketeering, drug, and sexual abuse charges

The operator of a criminal enterprise run out of several massage parlors he owned throughout the state, was found liable of 3 violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (R.I.C.O.) statute. The State alleged that Da Zhong Wang, 55, formerly of Smyrna, profited from prostitution by owning and operating a series of brothels in Middletown, Smyrna, Dover and Rehoboth from 2010 to 2015. After a number of community complaints, Delaware State Police conducted sting operations at locations in Middletown and Rehoboth. Those resulted in a conviction of Wang on a count of permitting prostitution and Wang’s license was revoked by the Division of Professional Regulation. DOJ attorneys filed a civil suit against Wang alleging racketeering, the first of its kind in Delaware involving human trafficking. A civil trial earlier this year resulted in a finding by a Superior Court judge this week that Wang is liable for 3 RICO violations. Wang faces up to $100,000 in civil penalties for each of the three violations and with the State intending to seek the maximum available penalty of $300,000. Deputy Attorneys General Oliver Cleary and Zoe Plerhoples of the DOJ Civil Division led the case for the State. The court decision with more detail can be found here.

Kevin Miller, a man from Bear already serving a prison sentence for a Drug Dealing conviction in 2015, will spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of the 2012 fatal shooting of Jeremiah McDonald, 30, of Bear. In July 2012, New Castle County Police found McDonald in the Sparrow Run development, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. After a lengthy investigation by New Castle County Police, the case was turned over the Department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit. Reexamination of evidence and talking to witnesses led to the identification of Miller as the suspect. A Superior Court jury convicted Miller, 40, of Murder First Degree and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. Following the jury verdict, a Superior Court judge convicted Miller of Possession of a Firearm by Person Prohibited. Deputy Attorneys General Joseph Grubb and Beth Savitz prosecuted the case. Detective Brian Shahan and Retired Sergeant Glenn Davis of the New Castle County Police Department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit led the investigation. Also assisting with the prosecution were DOJ social worker Courtney Cochran, paralegal Stacey Coupe, and trial management analyst Ted Griffin. A sentencing date has not been set.

A 60-year-old Claymont man whose drug-induced hallucinations led him to shoot his ex-wife pleaded guilty to her murder. Deputy Attorneys General Matthew Frawley and Samuel Kenney secured the plea from Joseph Slider. In November 2018, Joseph Slider and Mary Ellen Slider, 59, of Folsom, PA, were together in Joseph Slider’s Claymont apartment. The two were using PCP and hallucinations had Joseph Slider believing the television program they were watching was real, and that Mary Ellen Slider was a character on the program who killed his character’s mother. Joseph Slider took his .22 caliber revolver and shot Mary Ellen Slider multiple times, including twice in the head, then called 9-1-1 to report the shooting. Joseph Slider pleaded guilty to Murder Second Degree and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. Detective Eugene Reid of the New Castle County Police served as chief investigating officer, with DOJ social worker Jenn Kutney and paralegal Stacey Coupe also working on the prosecution. Slider will be sentenced by a Superior Court judge on a date to be determined in 2020.

Four men with commanding roles in a large scale heroin trafficking organization have pleaded guilty in Superior Court. The pleas from Walter Battle, 30, Darnell Farrare, 34, Darryl Grayson, 33, and Victor Fairley, 33, all of Wilmington, stem from a lengthy investigation led by Delaware State Police and the Delaware Department of Justice during the summer of 2018. Assistance was provided by numerous local and federal law enforcement agencies. The investigation culminated in the recovery of more than two kilos of heroin and fentanyl. All of the defendants pleaded guilty to Criminal Racketeering and Drug Dealing Tier 4. A judge immediately sentenced Battle to 12½ years in prison, followed by 18 months of probation. Farrare, Grayson, and Fairley will be sentenced by a judge in February. Deputy Attorneys General Cynthia Hurlock, Michael Cooksey, and Anna Currier prosecuted the cases with assistance from paralegals Meredith Parkinson and Julia Bacon.

A 26-year-old Laurel man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a child. Deputy Attorney General Casey L. Ewart secured the plea and sentence for Brandon Flood. In the spring of 2019, Flood initiated inappropriate sexual contact with a minor on more than one occasion. Flood pleaded guilty to Sexual Abuse by a Person in Position of Trust First Degree. A Superior Court judge sentenced Flood to 10 years in prison and the completion of the Transitions Sex Offender Program, followed by 1 year of either home confinement or work release, then 10 years of probation. Flood must also register as a Tier 3 sex offender. Detective Derek Cathell of the Delaware State Police Major Crimes Unit was the chief investigating officer, with DOJ social worker Carla Ennals and administrative specialist Angelique Waters part of the prosecution team.

Others face prison on assault and resisting arrest charges

Steven Snell, the Millsboro man who kidnapped and robbed an elderly Rehoboth Beach couple has been sentenced to prison. In July 2018, Snell, 30, went to a home on Cornwall Road asking to use the phone. Once inside, Snell threatened the couple with a box cutter, then forced the victims into his car and drove to an ATM where he took money from their account. In August, Snell pleaded guilty to Kidnapping First Degree, 2 counts of Robbery First Degree, and 1 count each of Home Invasion, Assault Second Degree, and Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony. Snell was sentenced by the Court to 20 years in prison, followed by 1 year of work release, then 2 years of probation. The work release and probation will include GPS monitoring. Deputy Attorney General Adam Gelof prosecuted the case.

A man who tried to avoid arrest by driving away from a traffic stop with a state trooper hanging onto his vehicle has been sentenced to prison. Deputy Attorney General John Donahue secured the sentence for 30-year-old Brandon Showell of Seaford. In June 2018, a trooper stopped Showell for running a stop sign, and as the trooper approached Showell’s SUV, Showell put it in gear and started to move. As the two struggled, Showell pushed the trooper from the vehicle, got out, and started to run, but the officer was able to take him into custody. In September 2019, Showell pleaded guilty to Assault Second Degree, Reckless Endangering, and Resisting Arrest with Force or Violence. A Superior Court judge sentenced Showell to 4 years in prison, followed by 6 months of work release, then 1 year of probation.

A 44-year-old Lincoln man received a prison sentence for assaulting a woman. In March 2019, Toussaint Jones began arguing with a woman who was staying with Jones and his wife. The argument turned physical, with Jones striking the woman in the face, causing an orbital fracture. In August, Jones pleaded guilty to Assault Second Degree. Jones was sentenced by a Superior Court judge to 3 years in prison including the completion of the Key substance abuse treatment program, followed by 18 months of probation with Key aftercare. Deputy Attorney General Jeffery McLane prosecuted the case with assistance from victim services specialist Monserrat Matos and paralegal Kristan Hudson.

Multi-state settlement resolves allegations of improper marketing and sale of addictive withdrawal treatment

Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced today that Delaware and other states have reached an agreement with pharmaceutical distributor Reckitt Benckiser Group (“Reckitt”) to settle allegations that the company, either directly or through a subsidiary, improperly marketed and otherwise promoted the drug Suboxone, resulting in improper expenditures of state Medicaid funds.

Suboxone is a drug product approved for use by recovering opioid addicts to avoid or reduce withdrawal symptoms while they undergo treatment. Suboxone and its active ingredient, buprenorphine, are powerful and addictive opioids.

“I’m grateful for the work that our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit does each day to protect consumers and ensure good stewardship of our tax dollars,” said Attorney General Jennings. “The opioid crisis has been one of the deadliest epidemics in Delaware history, and the challenges of recovery cannot be overstated. Appropriate medication can be a vital resource for people facing the considerable challenges of recovery, and we expect companies selling that medication to be fair and honest with consumers and Medicaid alike.”

Reckitt is an English public limited company headquartered in the United Kingdom. Until December 23, 2014, Reckitt’s wholly owned subsidiary Indivior Inc. (then known as Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) distributed, marketed, and sold Suboxone Sublingual Tablets and Suboxone Sublingual Film in the United States.

The civil settlement resolves allegations that, from 2010 through 2014, Reckitt directly or through its subsidiaries:

1. Promoted the sale and use of Suboxone to physicians who were writing prescriptions for patients without any counseling or psychosocial support, for uses that were unsafe, ineffective, and medically unnecessary. These practices allegedly made Suboxone susceptible to diversion for uses that lacked a legitimate medical purpose.
2. Falsely and misleadingly claimed that Suboxone Sublingual Film was less susceptible to diversion and abuse than other buprenorphine products, and that Suboxone Sublingual Film was less susceptible to accidental pediatric exposure than Suboxone Sublingual Tablets;
3. Fraudulently claimed in an FDA petition that it had discontinued manufacturing and selling Suboxone Sublingual Tablet “due to safety concerns” about the drug’s tablet formulation; and
4. Fraudulently stifled generic competition for various forms of Suboxone in order to improperly control pricing, including pricing to federal health care programs.

Reckitt has agreed to pay a total of $700 million to resolve various civil fraud allegations impacting government health care programs, with $3.08 million going to Medicaid. Delaware’s share of $1.3 million will go to the Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance within the Department of Health and Social Services.

A National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (“NAMFCU”) Team participated in the investigation and in settlement negotiations. The Team included representatives from the Offices of the Attorneys General for the states of California, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Washington. Director Christina Kontis and Senior Auditor Ellen Yates of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit handled this matter for Delaware.

Other defendants convicted on murder, manslaughter, weapons, and drug charges

Three men at the helm of a massive drug dealing enterprise were sentenced to prison in Superior Court. Dwayne White, 36, of Wilmington, Eric Lloyd, 40, of New Castle, and Damon Anderson, 40, were convicted of numerous charges in June for their roles in the organization. An investigation into the enterprise from early 2015 through the fall of 2017 led to indictments on charges including racketeering, money laundering, tax evasion, witness intimidation and drug dealing.

• Dwayne White – Guilty of Criminal Racketeering, Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, 2 counts of Conspiracy First Degree (for conspiring to commit a murder), Drug Dealing Heroin (Tier 4 or higher), Drug Dealing Cocaine (Tier 4 or higher), 8 Counts of Conspiracy Second Degree, Aggravated Possession of Heroin (Tier 5 or higher), Money Laundering, Criminal Solicitation First Degree, Aggravated Act of Intimidation, Bribing a Witness, Attempt to Evade Taxes, and Tampering With Physical Evidence, sentenced to 54 years in prison plus probation.
• Eric Lloyd – Guilty of Criminal Racketeering, Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, Money Laundering, Attempt to Evade Taxes, and 2 Counts of Conspiracy Second Degree, sentenced to 30 years in prison plus probation.
• Damon Anderson – Guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, 2 counts of Drug Dealing Tier 4, Money Laundering, and Attempt to Evade Taxes, sentenced to 25 years plus probation.

Deputy Attorneys General Mark Denney, Erika Flaschner and Jamie McCloskey prosecuted the cases, all of which were investigated by Wilmington Police Department Sgt. Steven Barnes, FBI Special Agent Shawn Haney, WPD Det. Devon Jones, the members of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and managed by multiple staff at the Delaware Dept. of Justice including Shanaya Eyong, Donna Lindsey and David Crist.

A 20-year-old has pleaded guilty to the murder of an 18-year-old on the streets of Wilmington. In January 2018, Andre Fletcher-Hargrow, of Wilmington, chased his victim, Zahviaire Berry-Shivers, of Wilmington, down the 2300 block of Pine Street, shooting repeatedly as they ran. Berry-Shivers was taken to Wilmington Hospital where he died a short time later. U.S. Marshals located Fletcher-Hargrow in Upper Darby, PA 6 months later. Fletcher-Hargrow pleaded guilty to Murder Second Degree and will be sentenced by a Superior Court judge in January. Deputy Attorneys General Annemarie Puit and Kelly Sheridan prosecuted the case with assistance from paralegals Lisa Loikith and Jaime Prater, social worker Claudia Melton, and special investigator Brian Daly.

One of the two people charged with the 2018 murder of a Laurel man has pleaded guilty. Deputy Attorneys General Caroline Brittingham and Nichole Gannett secured the plea from Traevon Dixon, 22, of Laurel. In September 2018, the body of Isaac Hatton, 19, was found on the bank of a pond near Portsville Road in Laurel. Hatton had been fatally shot. An investigation led State Police to identify Dixon as a suspect. Dixon pleaded guilty to Murder Second Degree and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. A Superior Court judge will sentence Dixon after the trial of his co-defendant Jerry Reed, 27, of Greenwood. Reed, who turned himself into police a week after Hatton’s body was found, faces charges of Murder First Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, Conspiracy First Degree, and Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited. Social workers Laurel Braunstein and Monserrat Matos assisted with the case, which was investigated by Detective Mark Csapo and the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit.

A Wilmington woman who caused a head-on collision while driving in the wrong direction on Route 1 near the Roth Bridge was sentenced to prison. In May 2018, Melanie Heath, 25, was driving over 90 miles per hour southbound in the northbound lane when she collided with a car killing a 41-year-old man who was a passenger in the other car and seriously injuring the driver. In June, Heath pleaded guilty to Manslaughter, Assault First Degree, Reckless Endangering First Degree, Driving Under the Influence, and Speeding. A Superior Court judge sentenced Heath to 9 years in prison, followed by 6 months of either home confinement or work release, then 2 years of probation. Heath must also complete a DUI Course of Instruction. Deputy Attorney General Barzilai Axelrod prosecuted the case with assistance from social worker Kristen Fluharty-Emory and paralegal Jaevan Owens. Corporal John Breen of the Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit was the chief investigating officer.

A traffic stop led to a guilty plea and prison sentence for a Seaford man who had drugs and a gun in his car. In February 2019, a Delaware State Trooper stopped a car driven by Stephon Hammond, 24, on Concord Pond Road in Seaford for illegally passing over a solid yellow line. When the trooper asked Hammond for his license, the trooper noticed multiple bundles of heroin fall from Hammond’s sweatshirt pocket. A search of the vehicle yielded a total of 390 bags of heroin and a loaded semi-automatic Glock 19 handgun. Hammond pleaded guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited and Drug Dealing Tier 2. Hammond, barred from having a gun because of previous felony convictions and juvenile adjudications, was immediately sentenced by a Superior Court judge to 5 years in prison, followed by 1 year of home confinement, then 18 months of probation with GPS monitoring. Deputy Attorney General Georgia Pham prosecuted the case.

Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings announced Thursday a multistate settlement with Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Ethicon, Inc., for their deceptive marketing of transvaginal surgical mesh devices.

A multistate investigation found the companies violated state consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the safety and effectiveness of the devices and failing to sufficiently disclose risks associated with their use.

“Manufacturers of medical devices must do better than the cavalier and dangerous attitude towards women exhibited here by Johnson and Johnson. Today’s settlement holds Johnson and Johnson accountable for their failures and my office will continue to ensure that Delawarean’s can rely on manufacturer’s assurances as to the safety and effectiveness of medical devices,” said Attorney General Jennings.

Transvaginal surgical mesh is a synthetic material that is surgically implanted through the vagina to support the pelvic organs of women who suffer from stress urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse.

The multistate investigation found the companies misrepresented or failed to adequately disclose the products’ possible side effects, including the risk of chronic pain and inflammation, mesh erosion through the vagina, incontinence developing after surgery, painful sexual relations, and vaginal scarring. Evidence shows the companies were aware of the possibility for serious medical complications but did not provide sufficient warnings to consumers or surgeons who implanted the devices.

The settlement requires J&J and Ethicon to provide full disclosure of the device’s risks and accurate information on promotional material and package inserts.

Among the specific requirements, the companies must:

• refrain from referring to the mesh as “FDA approved” when that is not the case;
• refrain from representing in promotions that risks associated with mesh can be eliminated with surgical experience or technique alone;
• ensure that any product trainings provided to medical professionals covers the risks associated with the mesh;
• omit claims that surgical mesh stretches after implantation, that it remains soft after implantation, that foreign body reactions are transient, and that foreign body reactions “may” occur (when in fact they will occur);
• disclose that mesh risks include: fistula formation, inflammation, mesh extrusion, exposure, and erosion into the vagina and other organs;
• disclose risks of tissue contraction, pain with intercourse, loss of sexual function, urge incontinence, de novo incontinence, infection following transvaginal implantation, and vaginal scarring; and
• disclose that revision surgeries may be necessary to treat complications, that revision surgeries may not resolve complications, and that revision surgeries are also associated with a risk of adverse reactions.

Additionally, Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay a combined $116.86 million to the 41 participating states and District of Columbia. Delaware will receive $1.4 million under the settlement which will go to the state’s Consumer Protection Fund. The Fund pays the investigative costs, consumer outreach activities and operations of Delaware DOJ’s Consumer Protection Unit, with excess amounts returned to the state’s General Fund for allocation by the state legislature and Governor through the normal budgetary process.

Joining Delaware in this multistate settlement are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The matter was handled by Assistant Director of Consumer Protection Regina S. Schoenberg.