By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Federal indictments have been returned against more than a half-dozen people, stemming from civil unrest in Louisville between June 1-4, according to Russell Coleman, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.
The charges in the series of indictments of the seven men include pharmacy robberies, a carjacking and convicted felons in possession of firearms. Most of the suspects are from Louisville, but there is one from Memphis, Tennessee.
• Vontreil Bailey, 30, of Louisville, is charged with conspiracy to commit burglary involving controlled substances. According to a criminal complaint on June 2, Louisville Metro Police responded to a burglary in progress at a Walgreens on South 3rd St. Police saw several people running from the business when they arrived, but Bailey was captured with the drugs still in hand.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says Bailey has numerous previous convictions including several for theft by deception, menacing, fleeing and evading police, wanton endangerment, robbery and burglary.
• Jean-Pierre Crowdus, 31, Frederick D. Eaves, 31, and Channel Lewis, 26, all of Louisville, have also all been charged federally with conspiracy to commit burglary involving controlled substances for breaking in and looting at the CVS drug store on Portland Ave. in Louisville.
Eaves has also been charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
The burglary charges carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and no more than three years of supervised release.
• Damion Lemont Hayes, 20, of Louisville, has been charged with carjacking. Hayes was on a felony diversion at the time of the carjacking following a February conviction on charges that were initially filed as complicity to murder and complicity to robbery, according to a criminal complaint.
After forcing two people out of the car at gunpoint on June 2, the car was spotted by LMPD officers on I-64 two days later and gave pursuit. The driver crashed, and the five people inside were taken to University of Louisville Hospital. One of the occupants was Hayes, who was arrested on state charges.
The federal carjacking charge carries a penalty of no more than 15 years, a maximum fine of $250,000 and no more than three years of supervised release.
• Brian N. Dean, Jr., 24 of Louisville, was indicted for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. According to a criminal complaint on June 3, LMPD officers responding to a call of shots fired identified Dean as a person who matched the description of a subject who pointed a gun at an individual. Officers approached Dean, and upon noticing the outline of a gun in his pocket he was detained, and officers recovered a loaded handgun.
Dean was previously convicted in Jefferson County of two counts of robbery and one count of burglary.
• Tevin R. Patton, 27, of Memphis, Tennessee, has also been charged for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. The federal criminal complaint states he drew a firearm in downtown Louisville on June 1 by a U. S. Secret Service agent.
After being struck with pepper balls, Patton ran to his car and drove off, but police stopped his vehicle and located a loaded handgun.
In 2013, Patton pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, and in 2016 to aggravated assault, both in Tennessee.
If convicted at trial, the maximum sentence for being a convicted felon unlawfully possessing a firearm is no more than ten years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
There is no parole in the federal system.
“Our black neighbors and the safety of the neighborhoods in which they live matter,” Coleman said, “which is why looting local pharmacies for dangerous drugs, carrying weapons as a convicted felon, carjacking and a felon traveling to our city to put police and protestors at risk will not be tolerated by federal law enforcement here.
“These federal charges, with more to come, seek to respond to lawlessness that has nothing to do with constitutionally-protected protest and everything to do with exploiting Louisville’s challenges for their own gain.”
