Three gang members were convicted Thursday and two others entered guilty pleas in a series of killings in Gwinnett and Athens-Clarke counties in 2018, officials said.
Philmon Deshawn Chambers, 34, of Atlanta, and Andrea Paige Browner, 28, of Athens, were convicted of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act, committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering and causing the death of a person using a firearm. Chambers was additionally convicted of using a firearm during a crime. They both face a minimum sentence of life in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia announced
Lesley Chappell Green, 35, of Stone Mountain, was convicted of violating the RICO act and faces a maximum of life in prison. Robert Maurice Carlisle, 36, of Lithonia, and Shabazz Larry Guidry, 28, of Decatur, pleaded guilty to violating the RICO act in June and face up to life in prison.
According to Melissa Hodges, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Chambers held a position of authority in the Gangster Disciples, a national gang that started in the 1970s in Chicago. He oversaw members of the “enforcement team,” which was created to discipline gang members, officials clarified.
Green was found to be a member of the enforcement team. Browner was a member of the Sisters of the Struggle, a parallel female component of the Gangster Disciples, and held a leadership position in the gang.
The series of three killings were triggered after gang member Walter Brown was killed Dec. 10, 2018, in Athens, officials said. It was found during the trial that Chambers and Browner sought retaliation after the death and believed three Athens residents were responsible.
Four days later, authorities said Browner met Rodriquez Apollo Rucker at a downtown Athens hotel and learned that he was related to one of the people she believed killed Brown. Chambers came to the hotel after receiving a text message from Browner and followed Rucker home, where he then fatally shot him, Hodges said.
Browner and Chambers then left town, claiming “the police would be looking for them,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Browner was arrested Dec. 15 in Texas, but Chambers got away.
Officials said Chambers became suspicious that someone was cooperating with law enforcement and narrowed his focus on Derrick Ruff and Joshua Jackson.
“Chambers concluded that Ruff and Jackson were ‘snitches’ and directed Green, who held a subordinate position on the enforcement team, to carry out the murders of Ruff and Jackson,” Hodges explained.
Text messages and phone calls revealed to authorities that Green lured Ruff and Jackson to drive from Athens to an Extra Space Storage along Lawrenceville Highway in Gwinnett County, and break into sheds to steal items that would be used by Chambers as he hid from law enforcement at a Gangster Disciples “safe house” in Texas, according to authorities.
Ruff and Jackson were killed Dec. 19, 2018, and their bodies were kept in the storage unit until March 17, 2019, when officials said police and cadaver sniffing dogs located them. Messages between the gang members showed that they conspired to dispose of the victims’ bodies by potentially burning or dumping them in a landfill, Hodges added. Arrests were made soon after police located the bodies.
“Our hope is that this verdict brings a sense of relief and justice to the victim’s families, who have endured such pain throughout these past few years,” said Robert Gibbs, senior resident agent of FBI Atlanta. “All three defendants’ actions were indefensible, cruel and unjust. They will now face the penalty for the despicable choices they made.”
A sentencing date for all those involved has not been set.
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