HARRISBURG, Pa. — Editor's note: The attached video is from Nov. 21, 2019.
A Baltimore man was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a 2016 triple homicide.
The United State Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Friday that Jerell Adgebesan, 35, from Baltimore and Hagerstown, Maryland was sentenced to life in prison.
The sentence was imposed by United State District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner, who also sentenced Adgebesan to a consecutive 20-year term in prison on a companion robbery charge.
Adgebesan's guilty plea follows the June 25, 2016 murder of Phillip Jackson, 36, from Mercersburg, Wendy Chaney, 39, from Hagerstown and Brandon Cole, 47, from Fayetteville inside a Mercersburg barn.
According to police and prosecutors, Wendy Chaney was in a relationship with co-defendants Kevin Coles and Torey White and had been previously assisting both with their drug distribution operation.
Coles, White and co-defendant Devin Dickerson learned that Chaney was cooperating with federal authorities and contracted for her to be murdered.
Adgebesan and co-defendant Kenyatta Corbett recruited members of a Baltimore-based gang known as the Black Guerilla Family, along with others from Baltimore, to travel to the Jackson property to kill Wendy Chaney.
Adgebesan knew these individuals from Baltimore and acknowledged he and Corbett recruited them to murder Chaney. The killers were promised that they could take as payment $20,000 that was to be in a safe in the barn and any drugs and firearms that they could locate on the Jackson property.
Once there, the killers encountered not only Wendy Chaney but also Brandon Cole and Phillip Jackson.
It was alleged that the gang members shot the victims in the head and back areas before setting them on fire inside the barn. Chaney and Cole were found dead by police but Jackson was alive when located by State Police. He later died at the hospital.
Chaney was killed to protect the drug trafficking activities of Coles, White, Dickerson, Corbett, and others. Jackson and Cole were murdered to prevent them from being witnesses to the crimes of violence that were committed at the Jackson property.
The killers never found any money on the property but stole some drugs and firearms.
The following individuals have pleaded guilty or been sentenced in connection to this case:
• Kevin Coles, from New York, NY and Hagerstown, Maryland, was found guilty after a trial in April of multiple crimes, including murder for hire, robbery, and drug trafficking, and is awaiting sentencing.
• Devin Dickerson, from Hagerstown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and crack cocaine and is awaiting sentencing.
• Kenyatta Corbett, from Hagerstown, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and to being an accomplice to the use of a firearm during Hobbs Act robbery and is awaiting sentencing.
• Michael Buck, from Hagerstown, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and to being an accomplice to the use of a firearm during Hobbs Act robbery and is awaiting sentencing.
• Nicholas Preddy, from Baltimore, pleaded guilty to attempting to kill a witness and is awaiting sentencing.
• Johnnie Jenkins-Armstrong, from Baltimore, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and to being an accomplice to the use of a firearm during Hobbs Act robbery and is awaiting sentencing.
• Terrance Lawson, from Baltimore, was sentenced to time served for attempting to intimidate a witness.
• Tyrone Armstrong, from Baltimore, was sentenced to time served for attempting to intimidate a witness.
• Christopher Johnson, from Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty to multiple counts including murder for hire and is awaiting sentencing.
• Mark Johnson, from Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty to obstructing the grand jury’s investigation and is awaiting sentencing.
• Llesenia Woodard, from Hagerstown, Maryland, pleaded guilty to providing false testimony to the grand jury investigating the murders and is awaiting sentencing.
• Joshua Davis previously pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy to locate and kill an individual believed to be cooperating with federal authorities in the investigation of the triple murders. Davis was sentenced to serve 100 months in prison.
• Torey White’s trial is currently scheduled for May 1, 2023.