Camden Man Charged Federally with Murdering Another in Retaliation for Suspected Theft of Crack Cocaine
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 12, 2009 |
CAMDEN—A Camden drug dealer was arrested Saturday on a one-count federal criminal Complaint for murdering a Camden man who had been suspected of ripping off a stash house of crack cocaine, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra announced.
The Complaint, which was issued under seal on Jan. 8, 2009, charges Larry Reddick, 34, with murder while engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy. The Complaint alleges that Reddick used a 9mm handgun, during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, to maliciously and with premeditation shoot and kill Brian “Pepe” Parker, 33, of Camden.
The charge makes Reddick eligible for a federal death sentence.
According to the Complaint, on Jan. 5, 2000, Parker was chased into the Tioga Bar, located in Camden, by two individuals and shot and killed.
The Complaint, which was unsealed today, resulted from an investigation by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force. Reddick was arrested by Special Agents with the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, along with Investigator’s with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, Police Officers with the Camden Police Department and Troopers with the New Jersey State Police on Saturday as he was leaving a Camden High School basketball game.
The defendant is scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court in Camden today before U.S. Magistrate Joel Schneider at 1:45 p.m.
The Complaint alleges that Parker was targeted to be killed for two supposed transgressions against those whom Reddick conspired with to distribute crack cocaine.
Parker was suspected of stealing two ounces of crack cocaine from a drug stash house called “The Honeycomb,” which was operated by one of Reddick’s co-conspirators in the drug business. Also, Parker had beaten up his girlfriend who was the daughter of an individual involved in the sale of crack cocaine along with Reddick and others.
Despite the charges set forth in the Complaint, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and federal law.
While the offense makes the defendant eligible for the federal death penalty, the charge, use of a firearm to commit murder while engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy, carries a maximum penalty of life.
In determining an actual sentence, the judge to whom the case is assigned would, upon a conviction, consult the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.
Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.
Marra credited Special Agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk in Philadelphia, along with Investigator’s with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Warren Faulk, Police Officers with the Camden Police Department, under the direction of Chief Scott Thomson, and Trooper with the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Colonel Joseph R. Fuentes, Superintendent , with the investigation leading to the criminal Complaint.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Smith of the Criminal Division in Camden.