An investigation into the 2016 murder of a man whose grandmother’s St. Louis area soul food restaurant was the backdrop for the reality show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” has led to fraud charges against his uncle and a man who helped produce a hit album for rapper Nelly.
The victim’s uncle, James Timothy Norman, of Jackson, Miss., And a suspected co-conspirator, Terica Ellis, of Memphis, Tenn., Were arrested earlier this week on prosecutors alleging involvement in a murder-for-hair plot that led to the tragic death of 20-year-old Andre Montgomery at a park in St. Louis. Louis, Mo., four years ago.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis announced Thursday that in addition to the murder-for-rent charge Norman has already faced, a grand jury found him and 42-year-old Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, of St. Louis. wire and postal fraud. Yaghnam, who is not accused in the proven murder-for-rent plot, is an insurance agent, but in 2002 he was one of the producers of “Nellyville,” which produced more than 6 million copies in the FS sold.
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A grand jury has charged him and 42-year-old Saint-Louis Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam with conspiracy to commit fraud and mail.
(ST LOUIS CITY JUSTICE CENTER)
Norman, who is a son of Sweetie Pie owner Robbie Montgomery, and the victim, who was her grandson, appeared on “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” which aired five seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network beginning 2011. Robbie Montgomery’s family has not spoken publicly about the latter.
In a news release announcing the new charges, federal prosecutors allege that Yaghnam collaborated with Norman to fraudulently obtain a $ 450,000 life insurance policy on Andre Montgomery. Yaghnam was Norman’s insurance agent at the time.
Yaghnam and Norman made false statements about life insurance applications for Andre Montgomery in which they borrowed about Montgomery’s net worth, income and other information, prosecutors allege.
Norman, now 41, became the sole supervisor of his cousin’s life insurance policy in 2014, according to prosecutors. Montgomery was shot dead on March 14, 2016, near Fairground Park in St. Louis.
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Norman and Ellis – described by prosecutors as an exotic dancer – are each facing a federal charge of conspiracy to use interfacial commercial facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire, resulting in death. Authorities have not said who they believe shot the victim, but Yaghnam has not been charged in the shooting.
‘Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s’ star James Timothy Norman has been charged in an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
(Getty)
Prosecutors allege that Norman flew to St. Louis the day before the murder. Louis of Los Angeles, where he lived at the time, and Ellis of Memphis. They say the two communicated using temporary mobile phones activated that day.
One day later, Ellis used the temporary phone “to communicate with Montgomery and learn his physical location for the purpose of luring Montgomery outside,” according to the news release. “Immediately after learning the Montgomery location, Ellis placed a call to Norman.”
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Prosecutors allege that the location information on the phone at Ellis placed her near the shooting at the time of the murder. The complaint said Ellis made another call immediately after the shooting and then began traveling back to Memphis.
Prosecutors said Ellis later put more than $ 9,000 in cash into several bank accounts. Four days after the murder, Norman contacted the life insurance company in an attempt to collect on his cousin’s policies, prosecutors said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
