NORFOLK, Va. – Six members of a North Carolina-based drug-trafficking organization were arrested Friday in connection with the murder-for-hire of Norfolk resident Lillian Bond.
According to the Department of Justice, among other charges, the group faces charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy, murder while engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise, murder while engaged in a drug-trafficking offense, use of a firearm resulting in death and distribution of cocaine.
Bond was shot and killed while taking out the trash at her home in Trice Terrace in 2016.
According to court documents, the defendants were charged for their roles in a long-running drug conspiracy allegedly led by Jaquate Simpson and based in the Greensboro, North Carolina, area.
The indictment alleges that during the conspiracy, a Norfolk-based drug dealer who had been buying cocaine from the conspiracy failed to pay for a multi-kilogram delivery.
The indictment also alleges that, as payback, Simpson and his right-hand man, Landis Jackson, hired Kalub Shipman and Nelson Evans to murder someone associated with the Norfolk drug dealer, and that on April 19, 2016, Shipman and Evans shot Bond to death.
Six of the defendants were arrested in the Greensboro and Charlotte areas today. The remaining two defendants, Jaquate Simpson and Kalub Shipman, are in state custody and will make their initial appearances in federal court at a later date.
Simpson and Shipman were both charged with continuing criminal enterprise; murder while engaged in continuing criminal enterprise; narcotics conspiracy; murder while engaged in a drug-trafficking offense; distribution of cocaine; use of a firearm resulting in death; conspiracy to commit murder for hire; and murder for hire.
The six people arrested and charged Friday are:
- Landis Jackson, 36
- Continuing criminal enterprise; murder while engaged in continuing criminal enterprise; narcotics conspiracy; murder while engaged in a drug-trafficking offense; distribution of cocaine; use of a firearm resulting in death; conspiracy to commit murder for hire; murder for hire
- Nelson Evans, 30
- Use of a firearm resulting in death; conspiracy to commit murder for hire; murder for hire; felon in possession of a firearm
- Patricia Farland, 41
- Narcotics conspiracy; distribution of cocaine
- Brian Tate, 35
- Narcotics conspiracy
- Mario Love, 36
- Narcotics conspiracy
- Shafter Manuel, 37
- Narcotics conspiracy
If convicted, the charged defendants face mandatory minimum sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to life.
