Man I’m trying to remember didn’t his robbery result in someone dying? Why is he celebrated like this? If he didn’t do it then I’m glad he home but yeah when I was reading up on what happen all I could think was these some stupid muthafuckas…. He coming home like he Mandela though.
The post below is for anyone who wants to read the actual details of the entire incident.
The trial evidence presented by the State, including the testimony of co-conspirator Gina Conway, established the following facts. Wingate and Leerdam were twenty-eight and twenty-one years old, respectively, in September 2006. People knew them as brothers, but they may have been step-brothers. Wingate's on-again-off-again girlfriend, Gina Conway, was an exotic dancer at a Bronx club named Sin City. One of the victim's attraction to Conway precipitated the events that culminated in another victim's homicide.
Two of the victims, Allan Plowden and David Taylor, were partners in criminal enterprises that included mortgage, real estate, and credit card fraud. They drove expensive cars around New York City, and Plowden often carried a Louis Vuitton bag containing cash, sometimes as much as $40,000. On September 19, 2006, while in the Bronx, Plowden noticed Conway standing across a street. He introduced himself then took her to a bar where they had a drink. Later, he took her to a hotel in Mahwah, New Jersey, where he unsuccessfully tried to seduce her. Conway left the hotel room at approximately 4:00 a.m. and took a taxi to Sin City where she met Wingate and gave him money, then met a bouncer named Turon Gholston,1 with whom she left.
Two days later, on September 21, the day before the homicide, Plowden phoned Conway, picked her up, and took her shopping in Bergen County. He was carrying the Louis Vuitton bag. During the shopping trip, Conway telephoned Wingate to make him jealous, and told him what she was doing. After shopping, Conway accompanied Plowden to a hotel in Fort Lee. Plowden gave Conway a room key card. During their stay, Plowden opened the designer bag several times to impress Conway, who thought it contained approximately $50,000. Later that night, Plowden drove Conway to Manhattan where he dropped her off.
After dropping Conway off, Plowden met David Taylor and two women, spent the night in a club, and eventually returned to the Fort Lee Holiday Inn where he shared a room with one of the women, Giselle Nieves. Taylor shared a room in the same hotel with the other woman, Maite Castro. Before going to bed, Plowden hid all but $1000 of his cash, as well as his wallet, jewelry, and car keys, under the plastic liner of a trash can. He hid the remaining $1000 under his bed's mattress, and then went to bed while Nieves showered. The crimes were committed in his room later that morning.
Meanwhile, after Plowden dropped off Conway, she took a taxi to a basketball court near 135th Street and Fifth Avenue where she met Wingate and his friends at approximately 11:00 p.m. During the next couple of hours, she took an ecstasy pill and drank some Hennessy Cognac, which made her high, but the degree of her intoxication seemed to rise and fall. She told Wingate about Plowden's money. When he asked how much, she replied "a lot." Wingate then said he was "going to get him," which Conway understood as meaning that Wingate was going to get Plowden's money.
Wingate asked Conway where Plowden was, and she told him Plowden was probably at a club. She also told him where Plowden was staying. Wingate telephoned Leerdam, who arrived a few minutes later and spoke with Wingate. When they finished speaking, Wingate told Conway to go with Leerdam and take him to the hotel where Plowden was staying. According to Conway, Wingate did not intend to use force, but rather intended to steal the money while Plowden was at the club. Shamell Foye, the only witness to testify on behalf of the defense, said he was at the basketball court and saw Wingate and Conway, but not Leerdam.
The group left the basketball court and Leerdam tried to get a car, but he was unable to find one suitable for his purposes. Wingate called the cell phone2 of a taxi driver, Mouhamadou Mbengue, and asked Mbengue to drive his brother and his girlfriend to New Jersey. Mbengue drove Leerdam and Conway to New Jersey, but stopped for gas on the way. While Leerdam went into the store at the gas station, Wingate pulled up in a car and told Conway that if she "pulled it off" he would love her forever.
Mbengue, Leerdam, and Conway arrived at the Fort Lee Holiday Inn at approximately 4:30 a.m., after mistakenly going to two other Holiday Inn hotels. During the journey, three calls were placed from Leerdam's cell phone to the Holiday Inn reservation line. Upon their arrival, Conway spotted Plowden's car and told Leerdam that Plowden had returned. Leerdam told Mbengue to wait and Leerdam and Conway entered the Holiday Inn.
On the way to Plowden's room, Leerdam put on gloves, took duct tape from his pocket, and displayed a handgun. Conway, who had not seen any of these items previously, became nervous because this was not part of the plan. When they arrived at Plowden's room, Leerdam told Conway to use her key card to open the door, but it did not work. Conway called Plowden's cell phone and could hear it ringing, but Plowden did not respond. Conway knocked on the door. Nieves answered, told Conway and Leerdam that Plowden was sleeping, and tried to close the door. Conway used her foot to prevent the door from closing, and she and Leerdam entered the room.
Once inside, Leerdam grabbed Nieves by the hair, pointed the gun at her head, and demanded the money and Plowden's car keys. Conway searched the room. Plowden continued to sleep. Leerdam shoved Nieves into the bathroom and told Conway to tape her up, which Conway did, duct taping Nieves's wrists, mouth, and ankles. Nieves got a good look at Leerdam and noticed a scar on the left side of his face.
Conway woke Plowden; Leerdam told Plowden not to look at him or he would be shot, so Plowden turned away and Conway duct taped his hands and eyes. Plowden told them about the money under the mattress. While Conway and Leerdam searched the room, Plowden, who was on the floor covered by a comforter, was able to lift part of the duct tape from his eyes, peek, and see what was going on. He eventually told Leerdam and Conway that the rest of the money was downstairs in a friend's room. Holding the gun to Plowden's head, Leerdam forced Plowden to call Taylor.
When Taylor arrived at the room, he knocked on the door and Conway opened it. Leerdam stood behind the door with the gun. When Taylor entered, Leerdam pointed the gun at his face, Taylor reached for the gun, it discharged, and Taylor fell dead. According to the Bergen County Medical Examiner who conducted the autopsy, Taylor had stippling3 on his face and two of his fingers, and a gunshot wound in his mouth. Taylor had died from an intraoral gunshot wound to his head and neck.
Conway collected items from the room, including cell phones, a laptop computer, and new clothes that Plowden had purchased the day before. She then went through Taylor's pockets and took $800. Leerdam took Taylor's watch and changed into one of Plowden's shirts and a suit jacket. Leerdam then struck Plowden in the face with the gun; and Conway took Nieves's purse and threatened to kill Nieves and her family. Before leaving, Leerdam and Conway told Plowden they were going to Taylor's room and if the money was not there, they would come back and kill him.
Plowden managed to free himself and chase after Leerdam and Conway. He caught and punched Conway, but when she screamed and Leerdam turned toward him with the gun, he retreated. When Leerdam and Conway returned to Mbengue's car, Mbengue noticed that Leerdam was wearing new clothes. Mbengue drove Leerdam and Conway back to Leerdam's apartment in New York City, where Leerdam phoned Wingate. Conway took a bag containing items stolen from the hotel room and went to Sin City, where she met Gholston and later took a bus with him to his apartment in Bloomfield, New Jersey. She left the bag at his apartment, took another bag, and went to the home of Wingate's sister-in-law. While there, she telephoned Wingate, who said he was sorry for what had happened and would take care of her.
During the ensuing police investigation, Plowden not only failed to identify Leerdam from two photo arrays, but identified the picture of another man the police had used as a "filler." Detectives interviewed Gholston and retrieved the bag that Conway had left at Gholston's house. The bag contained two Holiday Inn key cards, cell phones, a laptop, car keys, clothing, a wallet, and a camera. When detectives arrested Conway, she gave them a statement implicating Wingate and Leerdam.