August 12, 2009 -- MSNBC (US) Feds: Drug Case Informant Seduced, Killed Woman Allegedly 'Lured' Victim On Behalf Of Boyfriend, An Accused Dealer By Del Quentin Wilber, Washington Post

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Original: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32383580/ns/us_news-washington_post/

WASHINGTON -- Andre Hayes's phone rang one October afternoon, and a mysterious woman was on the line. She had called the wrong number, she told him. But she didn't hang up. They bantered a bit. They flirted. She said he sounded nice.

Over the next week, they spoke or texted by cellphone more than 100 times. As he drove to meet her on Halloween night, they chatted for 29 straight minutes. And then, as he awaited their rendezvous in a dark suburban driveway, Hayes was shot dead.

It soon became obvious to investigators that the mystery woman had not been looking for love, according to federal authorities who have recently detailed Hayes's last days in court papers and at a hearing. In fact, they allege, she seduced the 32-year-old on behalf of her boyfriend, an accused drug dealer hoping to eliminate Hayes, a key witness against him in a federal drug case.

The intimidation and killing of witnesses happens with chilling regularity in the Washington area, federal and local authorities say. Since early last year, according to D.C. police sources, at least three witnesses have been killed on District streets as a result of their cooperation. Two weeks ago, Prince George's County officials announced that they had obtained indictments against two brothers on charges of conspiring to kill a crucial witness to another slaying.

In Hayes's case, a review of court papers and interviews with his friends and family provide a rare window into what federal prosecutors have described as a determined effort to eliminate a man whose testimony could mean years behind bars for an accused drug dealer.

"Andre Hayes went there because he was lured," Assistant U.S. Attorney Darlene Soltys said at a recent hearing in the District's federal court.

The woman, Tiffany Reaves, 30, of Upper Marlboro, has been indicted on a federal charge of conspiring to obstruct justice by killing a witness. The charge carries a potential sentence of death. Reaves's boyfriend, Weldon Gordon, 31, has been indicted on federal drug charges tied to undercover purchases made by Hayes on behalf of federal investigators. Gordon, who was free on personal recognizance at the time of the killing, was taken into custody in January on drug charges. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

Top Witness

Gordon is easily identifiable as an unindicted co-conspirator in charging documents filed in Reaves's case. In court papers, prosecutors also wrote that Gordon "procured the unavailability of Andre Hayes, who was unquestionably, the government's principle witness against him."

Federal prosecutors, who declined interview requests, said in court last week that others would soon face charges.

Reaves's attorney, Shawn Franklin Moore, declined to comment, although he portrayed the evidence against his client as less than solid at a recent hearing. Relatives said they think Reaves is innocent. "She has integrity and morals," said Takiyah Wilson, Reaves's sister.

Gordon's attorney, Harry Tun, did not return several phone calls seeking comment.

Hayes, a slick dresser with a sharp wit, was described as a fun-loving guy who doted on his relatives and three daughters. But close friends said he also had a weakness: women.

"He was very popular with the girls, and they would do anything for him," said Ora Patterson, Hayes's foster mother and his guardian for much of his youth. Patterson paused and then continued: "I immediately thought a woman was involved when I heard about him being killed. But not in this way."

In recent years, friends said, Hayes, who lived in Clinton, sold drugs and held odd jobs. During the past 15 years, he had been arrested a few times on charges ranging from assault to drug possession. In January 2007, he was arrested on federal cocaine distribution charges in Virginia, the case that would eventually lead to the mysterious phone call last October.

Soon, he was working out a deal with the Drug Enforcement Administration: He would help them arrest other dealers if they would recommend a lighter sentence for him. By September, he was telling DEA Agent Kendrah Johnson that he knew a guy named "Weldon" who sold marijuana, crack and heroin, according to notes taken by the agent and filed in court.

During the next 11 months, Hayes bought more than 150 grams of crack from "Weldon," later identified as Weldon Gordon, in three deals - one in Maryland and two in the District, according to court papers filed by the DEA and federal prosecutors. Gordon, a Metrobus driver, showed up for one deal in his work uniform, prosecutors said.

In September, Gordon was charged in the District's federal court on two crack cocaine distribution charges. Each carried a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence. Within a month of his arrest, Gordon figured out that Hayes was the DEA's main witness, prosecutors say, and called him more than 50 times in a five-day stretch. Hayes complained to the DEA. At a meeting to discuss a possible plea deal in October, a DEA agent told Gordon to stop calling people "associated with his case," prosecutors wrote in court papers.

Within days, someone purchased a "burner," a prepaid disposable cellphone, at a convenience store in Rockville just a block from where Gordon reported to work, authorities said. In court papers, prosecutors say Gordon "caused" the phone to be purchased.

Drug dealers and other criminals often use burners because they are difficult for authorities to track. Prosecutors said Reaves used that phone to call Hayes at 2:42 p.m. Oct. 25, pretending to have called the wrong number. She was acting at the behest of Gordon and trying to entice Hayes into meeting her, prosecutors said.

That night, Hayes and Reaves met briefly in the parking lot of a Largo restaurant to check each other out, federal prosecutors said. Hayes apparently liked what he saw.

Over the next few days, they continued to talk and text. On Oct. 29, they spoke or texted 15 times. The next day, it was 30.

They agreed to meet again. About 11:30 p.m. Halloween, he began driving from Laurel to their meeting spot: a two-story house with burgundy shutters on Broadleaf Drive, a tree-lined road tucked at the end of several winding streets in Upper Marlboro, prosecutors said.

Cellphone records show that Hayes and Reaves talked for almost 30 minutes as they converged from different directions, according to prosecutors who cited cellphone tower records. About midnight, prosecutors said, Hayes backed his Cadillac SRX into the driveway of the house on Broadleaf Drive to await Reaves.

It was 12:03 a.m.

Reaves made a final call to Hayes. It lasted 27 seconds, prosecutors said.

Oddly Familiar Address

Six minutes later, prosecutors said, a gunman approached in the darkness and shot Hayes three times before sprinting to a getaway car.

Prosecutors said it was no coincidence that Hayes was killed at that house - Gordon once lived there, they said. And they have evidence linking Gordon and Reaves to the crime scene, they said.

Gordon's mother and stepfather still live there. A year earlier, DEA agents had watched Reaves pick up Gordon twice at that address before heading to meet Hayes for undercover drug deals, the agents wrote in court papers.

Investigators also recovered Gordon's DNA from the crime scene, prosecutors said, although they declined to be more specific.

In late January, Gordon was detained on state drug charges tied to the purchase made by Hayes in Maryland. During a search of Gordon's apartment that month, investigators said they found 391 grams of crack cocaine. In May, the state charges were dropped when Gordon was indicted by a federal grand jury for selling to Hayes in Maryland and for possessing with intent to distribute the 391 grams of crack found in his apartment. Gordon continues to be held without bond.

9mm Handgun

When investigators searched the Broadleaf house in January, they found a 9mm handgun and ammunition hidden in basement insulation. The gun didn't match the murder weapon, but the ammunition was the same type used to kill Hayes, federal prosecutors said.

Then there is the supposedly difficult-to-trace burner.

When detectives questioned Reaves, federal prosecutors said, she acknowledged that she was given a cellphone by Gordon, made calls to an unidentified man and later returned the phone to her boyfriend.

Prosecutors said telephone records revealed that a line at Hayes's workplace, a doctor's office on M Street NW, was used to call the burner five times.

The burner's calls were also routinely routed through a cell tower near that office, prosecutors said. At the time of the killing, prosecutors said, the burner and Gordon's phones were being routed through a cell tower closest to Broadleaf Drive.

Just hours later, prosecutors said, someone on a land line at Gordon's apartment in Largo called Reaves's cellphone.

The call went to voicemail.

Within seconds, prosecutors said, the same line was used to call the burner. The call lasted two minutes.

The burner, prosecutors said, soon went silent.

Staff writers Ruben Castaneda, Maria Glod and Jerry Markon and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

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