Life sentences for 4 in slaying of Md. man held for $7,000 ransom – WTOP News

Four men from D.C. and Maryland have been sentenced to life in prison for murder and other charges related to the 2018 kidnapping and killing of a Bowie, Maryland, man.

Darin Moore, Jr. 29, of Bowie, and the three other defendants from D.C. — Gabriel Brown, 33; John Sweeney, 29; and James Taylor, 33 — were all involved in the kidnapping of 28-year-old Andre Simmons Jr., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.

Officials said the group held Simmons for ransom before killing him.

On June 19, 2018, Simmons was abducted at gunpoint, bound with zip ties and forced into a vehicle by Moore and Sweeney in Maryland, according to the investigation conducted by the FBI Washington Field Office and D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

The investigation found that several ransom calls were made from Taylor’s phone to the victim’s family over the next few hours. Simmons’ family delivered $7,000 in cash to a drop location, as instructed by the kidnappers, and Brown picked up the money, according to officials.

According to officials, the defendants shot Simmons 19 times and left his zip-tied body in an alley off the 600 block of Atlantic Street SE just over an hour after they picked up the ransom money. The four men then met up in Capitol Heights, Maryland, to divide up the proceeds of the ransom.

Moore, Brown and Sweeney were each sentenced to life in prison for a kidnapping resulting in death; 45 years in prison on counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and first-degree premeditated murder and felony murder. Taylor was sentenced to life in prison for a kidnapping resulting in death and 45 years in prison for felony murder.

The four men were each arrested in late 2018 and early 2019. They’ve all been in custody since their arrests.

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