Former MTV G's To Gents Star Faces First-Degree Murder Charge
MIAMI - (CBS4) - One of the men who vowed to turn his life around on a popular MTV show back in 2009 is sitting behind bars in a Miami-Dade County jail facing a first-degree murder charge.
Baron "Dirty" Colon was featured on the second season of MTV's From G's to Gents and police say he was a suspect in a Miami Gardens murder even while he was flying to Los Angeles to star in the show, CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald reported.
Colon, 24, lived in Miami Gardens when he was selected as a finalist on the show. It offered $100,000 to the contestant who could most turn his life around. Colon did not win, he came in fourth place.
But according to police accounts obtained by the newspaper, Colon is linked to a botched robbery attempt that occurred in January of 2006 that left one man dead. His past caught up with him when police arrested him on January 7, 2011.
Marcelo Vera, 44, a local artist, was killed in his home after one of his former employees – Stephany Concepcion -- became angry with him. Documents did not disclose the nature of the dispute, however, it caused 26-year-old Concepcion to call on two other men to plan a robbery, according to an arrest warrant.
One of those men was Baron Colon – the warrant states. Concepcion had reached out to Colon telling him that she knew Vera kept large sums of cash in his home at 14044 SW 104th Terr.
The plan was for Concepcion to "act scared and no violence was thought to be necessary, since they assumed the victim would not resist because he was older," the warrant states.
Vera allowed Concepcion to enter his home the night of January 30th, 2006 and she asked to use the bathroom. That's when she followed Colon's instructions to press send on a cell phone signaling to them to begin the robbery, the warrant states.
However, the robbery soon turned violent and Concepcion remained in the bathroom, but listened as Vera was beaten and finally heard several shots fired, the warrant states.
Concepcion did not go with the men in the getaway car and instead remained outside Vera's residence until police arrived. She ultimately pled guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a 15-year sentence in state prison.
Early in the investigation, Concepcion had told police about Colon's involvement in the murder, but police needed more than just her word to create a stronger case against him.
Officials say those words came from Colon's own lips and onto an undercover informant's hidden recording device during an undercover narcotics investigation in which Colon "participated in the sale of cocaine," the warrant states.
In that conversation, Colon told the informant that he "shot the victim several times as the victim pled for his life….During the two hour recording, Baron Colon provided numerous details about his involvement in the homicide, ranging from the caliber of the weapons used in the homicide, the fact that the victim was a skinny male who put up a fight, and that he and [his accomplice known as Big Killer] fled the scene and spent the night outside, even sleeping in the bushes to the night of the murder to make sure he evaded the police," the warrant states.
His next appearance will be in a Miami-Dade court room where he will be arraigned on January 28th.
(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Miami Herald contributed to this report.)
