Gun recovered in a N.C. kidnapping used in Warner Robins killing; its owner gets life

Another gang member convicted in the kidnapping of a North Carolina prosecutor’s father pleaded guilty to malice murder Monday in a Warner Robins gas station killing.

Clifton James Roberts, 32, of Atlanta, also pleaded guilty to violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

Roberts drove fellow gang members in his Chevy Tahoe to the Murphy USA on Booth Road where Monnie Joseph Brabham IV, 32, was shot and killed at the fuel pumps minutes before noon on Jan. 23, 2014.

The North Carolina kidnapping took place a few months after the Warner Robins killing. Both crimes were allegedly orchestrated by Kevin Melton, a high-ranking Bloods gang member, while serving a life sentence in prison, Assistant District Attorney Greg Winters said Monday. Melton has not been charged in the Houston County killing. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the kidnapping.

Roberts, along with Tianna Danet Maynard of Warner Robins and another gang member who took part in the North Carolina kidnapping, were arrested for that crime in Roberts’ Chevy Tahoe.

The arrest came after Melton gave the order for the prosecutor’s father to be killed and buried, according to the federal indictment. Inside, the Chevy Tahoe, authorities found two shovels, a pick and a firearm owned by Roberts. The prosecutor’s father was rescued before the death order could be carried out.

The same firearm, a handgun, recovered in the Chevy Tahoe was used by fellow gang member Deondray Darnell Yarn, in the Warner Robins gas station killing. A shotgun fired by Michael Montreal Gooden delivered a shot to the chest that killed Brabham, Winters said. Yarn fired at LaJerrius Barfield, who was the intended target of a torture and planned gang killing, Winters told the judge. Yarn was not implicated in the North Carolina kidnapping.

“(Roberts) was talking to ... Melton at the time the shooting happened,” Winters told the judge.

Roberts testified at Yarn’s trial as part of a negotiated plea deal. He initially hesitated before entering his plea Monday, telling the judge that he had not reviewed the evidence against him until shortly before he testified at Yarn’s trial and had not seen surveillance video of the killing until the trial. He said he felt rushed when he agreed to the plea.

Judge G.E. “Bo” Adams sentenced Roberts to life in prison with the possibility of parole. That sentence will run at the same time as the 37-year prison sentence Roberts received in the North Carolina kidnapping.

Those involved in the Warner Robins killing associated themselves with One Eight Trey, part of the Bloods gang. Brabham was not part of a gang, but was friends with Barfield, whom Brabham was driving around the day of the killing. Barfield had split with One Eight Trey to join another gang, Winters said.

This story was originally published May 22, 2017 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Gun recovered in a N.C. kidnapping used in Warner Robins killing; its owner gets life."