GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — Four Lansing men were sentenced
this week in U.S. District Court, announced U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Miles, Jr.
The men - Charles Kunta Lewis, age 36, Wallee Abdullazeem Al-Din, age 24, his
brother, Mustafa Al-Din, age 25, and Ralphael Crenshaw, age 24 - were tried by
a jury before U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker during August, 2013. After a
two-week trial, they were convicted of conspiring to commit drug trafficking
crimes and robbery, and using a firearm during and in relation to a drug
trafficking crime resulting in murder. The four defendants were found guilty of
abducting and murdering Lansing resident Shayla Johnson, age 19, in an effort
to obtain drugs. The sentences imposed were 50 years for Mustafa Al-Din, 60
years for Wallee Al-Din, life plus a consecutive term of seven years for Lewis,
and 47 ½ years for Crenshaw.
Evidence at trial established that the defendants were
members and associates of a violent Lansing street gang known as the Block
Burners. The prosecution’s evidence demonstrated that during one six-week span
in the summer of 2010, the defendants were involved in a pattern of robbing and
at times beating victims for drugs, money and other valuable items. Their
violent conduct culminated in the kidnaping and first degree murder of Shayla
Johnson. The defendants wrongly believed Shayla Johnson had access to a large
number of marijuana plants. The defendants planned to kidnap her in order to
compel her to disclose the location of the marijuana plants. Acting on their
plan, the defendants entered her home, forced her from her bedroom, and
brutally shoved her into the trunk of a vehicle. When Ms. Johnson resisted, she
was fatally shot multiple times with an assault rifle.
In the fall of 2010, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office
sought the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the prosecution of the
matter because of serious concerns over allegations of obstruction and
intimidation by gang members. The decision was made to transfer the case to
federal court for prosecution.
"These lengthy sentences highlight the acts of
senseless violence committed by these individuals; their actions were
particularly heinous and brutal," said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Steven Bogdalek. "It is my
hope that these sentences will bring some measure of comfort to the family of
Shayla Johnson and to the other victims. I want to commend the investigative
efforts our ATF Special Agents, Lansing Police Department, Meridian Township
Police Department, Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, and the United States
Attorney’s Office."
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy
P. VerHey and Brian K. Delaney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine
Emerson, on assignment from the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office.
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