Newport News Man Pleads Guilty to Participating in Murder
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 14, 2014 |
NEWPORT NEWS, VA—Mustafah Kalil Muhammad, 27, of Newport News, Virginia, pleaded guilty today use of a firearm resulting in the death of Lloyd Robinson on January 8, 2010.
Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office; and Richard W. Meyers, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.
Muhammad was charged, along with others, in a superseding indictment returned in July 2013 with interference with commerce by robbery and use of a firearm resulting in death.
Muhammad faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced on July 23, 2014, in Norfolk.
Muhammad is alleged to be part of a criminal organization known locally as Thug Relations, alternatively known as the Duct, “Warwick Lawnz, TR,” and from the Duct to the Lawnz, a neighborhood gang operating in the Aqueduct Apartments, St. Michael’s Apartments, Mariner’s Landing Apartments, and Heritage Trace Apartments, as well as Warwick Lawns, Warwick Town Home, Sharon Drive, and the Savage Drive areas of Newport News, Virginia. The alleged gang members are accused in the indictment of protecting their criminal enterprise and activities through murder, attempted murder, witness intimidation, robbery, and narcotics distribution. In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Muhammad admitted to his participation in the drug related home invasion and murder of Lloyd Robinson on January 8, 2010.
This investigation was led by FBI and the Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the Newport News Police and the Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorneys Howard J. Zlotnick and Lisa R. McKeel and Special Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.