By Forum Staff
An indictment was unsealed last week in Brooklyn federal court charging Jerome Waters, also known as “the Engineer,” Calvin Israel and William Barnett for their alleged roles in the kidnapping, robbery and fatal shooting of a victim in Bayside on July 25, according to prosecutors.
Waters and Israel were arrested last Wednesday in Maryland and will be arraigned in Brooklyn at a later date. Barnett remains at large.
“As alleged, the defendants’ premeditated robbery and kidnapping that resulted in a violent death, demonstrates the significant threat of guns and drugs in our communities,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “This Office continues to work nonstop with our law enforcement partners to hold these drivers of violent crime accountable and remove their means to wreak havoc.”
As alleged in court filings, the defendants are members of a Baltimore-based violent robbery crew that conspired to commit an armed robbery and kidnapping of marijuana dealers in Bayside. On the night of July 24 and into July 25, the defendants drove up from Maryland to New York City for the purpose of kidnapping and robbing at gunpoint John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, who were both drug dealers. Once in New York, Waters and Barnett met with John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 at a stash house in Bayside under the guise of purchasing marijuana.
Moments later, Waters and Barnett pulled out guns and held up John Doe #1 and John Doe #2. Next, they invited their co-conspirators into the stash house to assist in the robbery and kidnapping. While in the stash house, Waters, Israel, Barnett and their co-conspirators tied up John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 with zip ties and forced them outside and into the back of a Jeep and a U-Haul van at gunpoint. At the same time, the defendants and their co-conspirators stole approximately 30 pounds of marijuana from the stash house.
The defendants and their co-conspirators drove John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, who were still tied up, through the borough at gunpoint, demanding drugs and money. Israel drove the U-Haul van containing John Doe #1, who was shot to death multiple times in the head in the back of the U-Haul van. When his body was found by first responders, John Doe #1 still had a zip tie binding one of his hands and was surrounded by bags of marijuana. After the shooting, the defendants fled back to Maryland.
If convicted, Waters, Israel, and Barnett each face mandatory sentences of life imprisonment.
“The three defendants allegedly orchestrated the kidnapping and armed robbery of two individuals in the illicit drug trade, culminating in the murder of one victim. These alleged actions incorporated unnecessary terror and brutality to accomplish their greedy plot,” said FBI NY Assistant Director in Charge James Dennehy. “With assistance from our law enforcement partners, the FBI will continue its mission apprehending all interstate travelers who pollute our city with drugs and gun violence.”
City Interim Police Commissioner Tom Donlon called the arrests “another example of police and their federal partners’ unrelenting pursuit of crews that monetize drugs and brutality.”
