A Baltimore man was arrested by federal agents on the morning of Friday, May 2, in connection with a crime spree in Queens that included the murder of a marijuana dealer in Bayside last summer.
Jalon Lenny Garrett, 20, known on the streets as “Lips,” and Marcus “Nacho” Pittman, 30, were named along with four other co-defendants, in a seven-count second superseding indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court charging them for their alleged roles in the kidnapping, robbery and shooting of marijuana dealers on July 25, 2024.
Garrett will make his initial court appearance in the Eastern District of New York at a later date. Pittman was also newly charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition for his role in the fatal shooting. The remaining defendants: Delonta “D Lo” Pittman, 31; Jerome “The Engineer” Waters, 23; Calvin Israel, 23, and William Barnett, 27, all from Maryland, are already in custody and will be arraigned at a later date.
According to the indictment and other public court filings, the defendants are members of a Baltimore-based robbery crew that conspired to commit armed robbery and kidnapping of marijuana dealers in Queens.
On the evening of July 24, 2024, the defendants and their co-conspirators drove from Baltimore to Queens to kidnap and rob at gunpoint drug dealer Julian Mejias and a second unnamed dealer at a stash house somewhere in the borough under the guise of purchasing marijuana. Waters and Barnett held the dealers at gunpoint and let the rest of the crew into the stash house, where they were bound with zip ties and forced outside and into the back of a Jeep and a U-Haul van, which were driven by Barnett and Israel.
At the same time, the rest of the crew stole approximately 30 pounds of marijuana from the stash house. Garrett held a gun to the unnamed drug dealer as he was driven through Queens, while Israel drove the U-Haul to 208th Street near 32nd Drive in Bayside, a block east of the Clearview Expressway, where Pittman shot Mejias multiple times in the head. When his body was found by first responders, Mejias still had a zip tie binding one of his hands, and he was surrounded by bags of marijuana. After the fatal shooting, the defendants drove back to Maryland.
“These individuals came to New York City armed with guns and zip ties — ready to rob, kidnap, and kill,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “It was a deliberate, brutal attack meant to terrorize our communities.”
If convicted, Garrett faces a mandatory minimum of ten years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. Waters, Israel, Barnett, and both Pittmans each face mandatory minimum sentences of life imprisonment.
“They thought they could hit and run,” Tisch said. “They were wrong — and anyone else thinking the same should take note.”
