6 Detroiters indicted for retaliatory kidnapping plot
(CBS DETROIT) - An indictment unsealed Thursday charges six people from Detroit in the kidnapping and beating of a person wrongfully believed to have participated in a carjacking.
Four of the individuals were arrested on Nov. 3, on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a kidnapping in the November 2021 incident.
According to U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison, beginning on Nov. 14, 2021, and continuing into Nov. 15, 2021, the defendants joined other unnamed individuals in the kidnapping and beating of a person as part of an organized effort to extract information about a carjacking the conspirators wrongly believed the person took part in.
The victim of the carjacking, Cortez Blake, is alleged to have participated in the kidnapping conspiracy.
Charged in the Oct. 12, 2022 indictment were:
- Cortez Blake, 21
- Karamoh Turner, 21
- Semaj Ayers, 20
- Maijah Greene, 22
- Shatonnia Kimbrough, 19
- Armond Williams, 20
"The coordinated effort to victimize and seek retaliation in this case is stunning," said Ison. "This is a clear example of what we see too often: violence causing more violence, and it has to stop. Today's arrests should send a clear message to those thinking about carrying out street justice - it will not be tolerated."
If convicted, the defendants each face up to life in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to five years of supervised release.