Page 37 - Florida Sentinel 4-2-21

Crime
Man Charged In Early Morning Fatal Shootings
Man Killed In Shooting At Apartment
The fatal shooting took place at the Park at Portofino Apartments last Friday morning.
MARQUIS HERRING ... Charged with murder
A 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with second-degree murder over the weekend. He is accused of fatally shooting two men.
According to the St. Pe- tersburg Police Department, officers were dispatched to 33rd Street, South, near Fair- field shortly after 4:30 a.m., Saturday.
When the officers arrived,
ALAIR J. MONCRIEFFE ... Died at the scene
they discovered two men had been shot at the location and died as a result of their in- juries. They have been iden- tified as Alair J. Moncrieffe, 31, and 49- year-old Timothy Lemar Marshall.
Police said there had been an altercation between Marshall, Moncrieffe, and Marquis Leonard
TIMOTHY MARSHALL ... Died at the scene
Herring while they were at the location. The altercation continued and resulted in the double fatal shooting.
After the shooting, Her- ring surrendered to police. He has been charged with one count of second-degree murder.
Other additional charges are pending the outcome of the investigation.
Detectives are continuing their investigation into a fatal shooting. It took place around 11:30 a.m., last Fri- day.
Deputies were dispatched to the 1800 block of Prince- ton Lakes Drive in reference to a shooting. When deputies arrived, they discovered that an adult man was dead inside the apartment. The other person involved in the shoot-
ing had remained at the scene,
Police did not release any additional information about the victim or the person they were interviewing. The inves- tigation is continuing.
At the completion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the Hillsbor- ough County State Attorney’s Office to determine if charges will be filed.
Jury Convicts Woman In Drug-Related Death
A federal jury found a 40- year-old woman guilty of con- spiracy to distribute over one kilogram of heroin and a quantity of fentanyl, distribu- tion of fentanyl resulting in death, and eight counts of distribution of heroin or fen- tanyl. She is facing a mini- mum mandatory sentence of 20 years, and up to life, in federal prison.
Ms. Leslie Pagan had been indicted on August 27, 2020, along with Jackylin Bonifacio and Steven Echevarria. An indictment was filed on November 5, 2020.
Prior to trial, Bonifacio pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, and Echevarria pleaded guilty to conspiracy to dis- tribute over one kilogram of heroin.
According to testimony presented at trial, from Janu- ary 1, 2016, through Septem- ber 1, 2020, Pagan, Echevarria, Bonifacio and
LESLIE PAGAN
others conspired to distribute heroin. Bonifacio distrib- uted heroin she had received from Pagan and Echevar- ria to heroin users in Hills- borough County.
Echevarria initially con- trolled the supply he obtained from another co-conspirator, but when Echevarria was incarcerated in 2017, Pagan took over that role and dis- tributed the heroin to Boni- facio.
On December 19, 2019, Bonifacio distributed a sub- stance to the victim. Bonifa- cio thought the substance
was heroin, but it was actually fentanyl. When the victim used the fentanyl shortly after receiving it from Bonifacio, the victim collapsed and died.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office investigated the overdose death and iden- tified Bonifacio as the per- son who had distributed the fentanyl to the victim. On De- cember 20, 2019, Bonifacio was arrested and found in possession of 25 baggies of fentanyl, packaged for distri- bution.
A joint investigation led by the FBI identified Pagan as Bonifacio’s supplier. During a series of covert op- erations, Pagan distributed fentanyl and heroin to a con- fidential informant and re- ceived payments from that informant. Pagan was ar- rested on September 1, 2020, and investigators recovered 97 grams of fentanyl and over $105,000 in currency from her residence.
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