Florida man paid his cousin $6K to kill the 17-year-old high school junior he molested: feds
A Florida creep, who molested a 17-year-old girl, hired his own cousin to gun the teen down in her own home in a sick murder-for-hire plot that now has him behind bars for life, federal prosecutors said Monday.Lenard White, 36, paid his cousin Sheldon Robinson, 21, at least $6,000 to fatally shoot high school junior Isabella Scavelli and keep her from testifying about the 2023 sex assault, the US Attorney’s Office in Florida’s middle district said.They were both convicted on murder and conspiracy charges.Prosecutors said Robinson “fired a barrage of gunshots” when Scavelli answered the door at her family’s home on Feb.7, 2023, killing her and wounding her mother.
“The bullet that killed [Scavelli] struck her in the back as she ran away from her front door for help,” prosecutors said in a release.“[Her mother] was struck several times but survived.
She collapsed on ground and watched her daughter die.”A third accomplice, Keshawn Woods, 22, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the plot.The three convicts were also charged with tampering with evidence and obstructing justice, while Robinson’s mom, Janet Williams, was charged with lying to investigators to try to conceal the crime.Scavelli, who was identified as the victim by Fox affiliate WTVT News, reported the sex assault to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office just one day before she was shot and killed.Officials said White had posted online that he was looking for a killer.He also made it a point to be out of state at the time to distance himself from the crime — a ploy that didn’t fool cops or prosecutors, the sheriff’s office said.The conspirators were arrested in 2023, while White and Robinson were found guilty by a federal jury last week following a two-week trial, the feds said.The cowardly pair even discussed knocking off another potential witness, according to authorities.They each face “multiple mandatory life sentences” when they return to court for sentencing in Janu...