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A federal jury announced on Tuesday, Nov. 1 that four men from the DMV area were convicted of murder and other charges in the kidnapping of a man whose body was found in the summer of 2018.
Those charged:
- Darin Moore, Jr., 29, of Bowie, Maryland;
- Gabrial Brown, 33, of Washington, DC;
- John Sweeney, 29, of Washington DC.
Each was found guilty at trial of:
- Conspiracy to commit kidnapping;
- Kidnapping resulting in death;
- First-degree murder while armed,
- Felony murder.
A fourth suspect, James Thomas Taylor, 33, also of Washington, D.C.., was found guilty of kidnapping resulting in death and felony murder.
The harrowing scene played out beginning on June 19, 2018, when Bowie resident Andre Simmons, Jr. was abducted at gunpoint in Maryland, bound with zip ties, and forced into a vehicle by Moore and Sweeney, prosecutors said.
During the following few hours, several ransom calls were made from Taylor’s phone to Simmons’ family, who delivered $7,000 in cash to a drop location as instructed by the kidnappers. The money was subsequently picked up by Brown.
Investigators said that approximately an hour after the ransom payment, shortly before 6:30 a.m. on June 20, 2018, the four men shot Simmons 19 times and left his zip-tied body off the 600 block of Atlantic Street SE.
The four men then met up in Capitol Heights in Maryland to divide the ransom payments.
Moore was arrested on June 20, 2018. Brown was arrested on June 27, 2018, Taylor was arrested on Aug. 17, 2018, and Sweeney was arrested on Jan. 14, 2019. Each has been in custody since being apprehended.
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