The Birmingham Police Department reports that detectives have arrested and charged a suspect in connection with a traffic fatality/murder investigation. The incident occurred on Saturday, October 19, 2013, at approximately 12:43 a.m., in the 1600 block of Vanderbilt Road.
The victim has been identified as:
Rashaad Cole, B/M, 10, of Birmingham, Alabama.
Officers responded to the incident location to investigate a report of a traffic accident. Upon arrival, officers observed a wrecked vehicle on the property of Brother’s Recycling. Officers also observed two adults and four children suffering from injuries. Birmingham Fire and Rescue arrived and pronounced the victim deceased on the scene. The adult victims were transported to U.A.B. Hospital for treatment. The surviving juvenile victims were transported to Children’s of Alabama for treatment. All surviving victims are expected to recover from their injuries.
Upon further investigation officers observed that the suspect/driver appeared intoxicated. Officers received additional information that the suspect/driver had consumed alcohol prior to driving the vehicle. Officers also learned that the suspect/driver had stopped at a nightclub prior to the accident while leaving the children in the car.
The suspect/driver has been identified as:
Sherita Harvey, B/F, 34, of Birmingham, Alabama.
The following warrants have been obtained against the suspect:
Murder with Reckless Indifference
Assault 1st Degree
Aggravated Child Abuse
Felony Child Abuse (3 Counts)
Total bond – $305,000
The suspect is in the custody of the Jefferson County Jail.
Homicide Investigation Update
The Birmingham Police Department reports that detectives have identified the victim in a homicide that occurred on Sunday, October 27, 2013 at approximately 7:34 p.m., in the 300 block of 83rd Street North.
The victim has been identified as:
Benjamin Sloan, 31, of Gardendale, Alabama.
Officers from the East Precinct responded to the incident location to investigate a report of a person down. Upon arrival, officers discovered the 31-year-old victim sitting in an SUV that was in the roadway. he victim was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound and was unresponsive.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue responded to the scene and pronounced the victim deceased.
There have been no arrests made in the case.
If there is anyone who has information pertaining to the case, they are encouraged to contact the BPD at 254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 254-7777.
Talladega County Man Pleads Guilty to Murder for Hire
BIRMINGHAM — A Talladega County man pleaded guilty in federal court to attempting to hire a member of the Ku Klux Klan to murder an African-American neighbor he suspected of raping his wife, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Schwein Jr.
ALLEN WAYNE DENSEN MORGAN, 29, of Munford, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre to one count of using and causing someone else to use interstate facilities and travel — a telephone and a motor vehicle — with the intent to commit a murder-for hire. Morgan’s sentencing is scheduled Feb. 27.
“The defendant attempted to arrange the brutal murder of his neighbor as vengeance for a perceived wrong,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. “The Justice Department will prosecute with vigor those who seek violent vigilantism.”
“This defendant’s effort to solicit a murder for hire is a federal crime,” Vance said. “The prosecution here was swift and the punishment will be in a federal penitentiary. Future wrongdoers are on notice that we vigorously prosecute these crimes.”
Federal officials arrested Morgan in August after he told FBI agents posing as members of the KKK that he would pay them to murder his neighbor. Morgan admitted he offered a watch, a necklace and a gun as payment for the murder and gave explicit details for the man’s torture and murder.
Morgan’s efforts to arrange the paid murder of his neighbor unfolded as follows, according to his plea:
Morgan talked to an undercover FBI agent by telephone on Aug. 22, who identified himself as a KKK member. The men arranged to meet three days later at an Oxford motel to discuss payment for the murder. In that phone conversation, Morgan used a racial slur to describe the man he wanted killed and bragged that he had just fired several shots toward the man to intimidate him. Morgan also described, in detail, how he wanted the man “hung from a tree like a deer and gutted,” to have body parts cut off, and to “die a slow, painful death.”
Morgan faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Pat Meadows and John B. Felton of the Northern District of Alabama and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney David Reese are prosecuting the case.
