Catherine Rusoff
Federal prosecutors this week charged five men accused of impersonating Philadelphia police officers in the 2006 kidnapping and murder of a 38-year-old man.
The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Eastern Pennsylvania alleges that the men — while posing as police officers using badges, police lights and fake firearms — kidnapped Shamari Taylor and his then-21-year-old girlfriend in West Philadelphia. to steal it. cocaine and drug money.
CBS Philadelphia
Kevin Holloway, 45; Mark Scott, 48; Linton Mathis, 50; Atiba Vime, 47; and Kenneth Tuck, 51, were charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and complicity.
The couple was sitting in a car in Philadelphia’s Overbrook neighborhood on Aug. 26, 2006, when they were kidnapped and taken to a warehouse, CBS News Philadelphia reported. The kidnappers released the girlfriend several hours later, but Taylor, son of a former state representative, remained missing. The day after Taylor disappeared, someone broke into her family’s West Philadelphia home and shot her sister and mother in the head. Both survived.
Authorities located Taylor’s remains nearly 12 years later, on Aug. 21, 2018, in a shallow grave in North Philadelphia, a Justice Department news release said. Federal Public Ministry said your kidnappers suffocated him. Taylor was identified through dental records, CBS News Philadelphia reported.
Philadelphia County arrested and charged Kenneth Tuck in connection with Taylor’s kidnapping in September 2006, but after two trials he was acquitted of all charges.
Law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Philadelphia Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration and Pennsylvania State Parole, continued the investigation until charges were filed this week.
“Anyone who commits a heinous crime and is still free years later can simply assume they got away with it,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Well, they should think again. We and our law enforcement partners will doggedly pursue justice for victims of violence and accountability for perpetrators – no matter how long it takes.”
