NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A New York man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the murders of two men in Newport News in June and July 2014.
According to court documents, 33-year-old Mark Anthony Skeete, a.k.a. Mark Brown, was a member of the Nine Trey Gangsters, an offshoot of the California-based “Bloods” street gang. Records say in June 2014, Skeete came to Virginia to assist in the prostitution of adult women in the Richmond area.
On June 28, 2014, Skeete and others went to Newport News to assist in the prostitution of a female from New York. When a client was unable to pay, records say Skeete shot and killed him to maintain his position as part of the Nine Trey enterprise.
After the June 2014 murder, Skeete and others fled to North Carolina. Skeete and others then returned to Newport News and killed another man on July 16, 2014, during a drug transaction. Skeete also robbed the victim of money, drugs and a cellphone.
Shortly thereafter, Skeete returned to Richmond. On September 14, 2014, Skeete, a previously convicted felon, possessed a firearm in Richmond that was later forensically linked to the Newport News murders. Court documents say cartridge casings recovered from the June and July 2014 murder scenes revealed that the same Ruger .45 caliber firearm recovered on September 17, 2014, in Richmond was the weapon used in both of those murders.
Skeete is scheduled to be sentenced on December 1. He faces a maximum sentence of up to two life terms in prison.
