MERCERSBURG, Pa. — A Maryland man was sentenced recently to life in prison for his role in a 2016 conspiracy to murder a drug informant and two other people in Franklin County, U.S. Attorney Gerad M. Karam said Thursday.
Kenyatta Corbett, 41, of Baltimore, had previously pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the June 25, 2016 murders of Wendy Chaney, Brandon Cole, and Phillip Jackson at Jackson's farm in Mercersburg, Karam said.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Connor also sentenced Corbett to a consecutive 20-year prison term for a companion robbery charge, Karam said.
Corbett’s sentence was the result of a seven-year investigation into the three murders, which occurred on a property along Welsh Run Road in Mercersburg, Karam said.
When Pennsylvania State Police officers were called to the scene, they found the bodies of Chaney, Cole, and Jackson in a barn on Jackson’s property.
All three were found with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. They had been shot and set on fire. Jackson and Cole were shot once in the head. Chaney was shot twice, once in the back and once in the back of her neck.
Chaney and Cole were already dead, while Jackson died of his injuries shortly after arriving at York Hospital, Karam said.
The evidence previously presented at Corbett’s plea hearing established that Chaney was in a relationship with co-defendants Kevin Coles and Torey White and had been previously assisting both with their drug distribution operations.
Corbett was likewise a heroin trafficker in Hagerstown and areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Corbett, Coles, White and another co-defendant, Devin Dickerson, learned that Chaney was cooperating with federal authorities and contracted for her to be murdered.
Corbett and co-conspirator Jerell Adgebesan, who worked for Corbett, recruited members of a Baltimore-based gang known as the Black Guerilla Family and others from Baltimore to travel to the Jackson property and kill Chaney.
Adgebesan knew the contracted killers from Baltimore.
The killers were told there was $20,000 in a safe located in Jackson's barn. They were promised that they could take the money as payment for killing Chaney, along with any drugs or firearms they could find on the property.
When they arrived, the killers found Chaney was not alone, as expected. Cole and Jackson were also there.
The killers murdered Chaney to protect the drug trafficking activities of Corbett, Coles, White, Dickerson, and others, while Jackson and Cole were killed to prevent them from being witnesses in an investigation of Chaney's murder.
The killers never found any money on the property but did steal some drugs and firearms.
The following individuals were charged along with Corbett as a result of the investigation:
Jerell Adgebesan, age 35, of Baltimore and Hagerstown, MD: sentenced to life imprisonment for participating in the murder of three people including a federal witness
Devin Dickerson, age 31, of Hagerstown: pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and crack cocaine and is awaiting sentencing
Torey White, age 32, of Waynesboro: convicted by a federal jury in May of three counts of first-degree murder and is awaiting sentencing;
Michael Buck, age 30, of 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, age 29, of Baltimore: pleaded guilty to attempting to kill a witness and was sentenced to 30 years in prison
Johnnie Jenkins-Armstrong, age 22, of 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, age 31, of Baltimore: sentenced to time served for attempting to intimidate a witness
Tyrone Armstrong, age 30, of Baltimore: sentenced to time served for attempting to intimidate a witness
Christopher Johnson, age 31, of Baltimore: pleaded guilty to multiple counts including murder for hire and is awaiting sentencing
Mark Johnson, 35, of Baltimore: pled guilty to obstructing the grand jury’s investigation and was sentenced to 110 months in prison
Llesenia Woodard, 46, of Hagerstown: pled guilty to providing false testimony to the grand jury investigating the murders and is awaiting sentencing
Kevin Coles, age 36, of New York, NY and Hagerstown: found guilty in April of multiple crimes, including murder for hire, robbery, and drug trafficking, and was sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences;
Yolanda Diaz, 31, of Hagerstown: indicted on multiple counts of perjury and obstruction of justice based upon her testimony at the Coles trial.
Joshua Davis, age 30: previously pled 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.
