Man admits to role in murder-for-hire plot
NORRISTOWN » When a Delaware County man learned the person he was hired to kill was a woman he had a change of heart and instead recruited another man to carry out the shooting that ultimately left a Norristown woman wounded.
Darelle Tyrone Bean, 32, of the 100 block of North Second Street, Darby, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and person not to possess a firearm in connection with the 5 p.m. Dec. 2, 2016, shooting and wounding of the Norristown woman and her male companion as they sat in a vehicle on Haws Avenue in Norristown.
With his guilty plea, Bean specifically admitted that he was hired by Joseph “Dream” Wesley to kill a police informant but that when he discovered the target was a woman he recruited another man, Cesar A. Morales, to carry out the deed.
“When he found out the target was a woman, he would not carry out the hit. He recruited somebody else to do it because he was uncomfortable with the fact that she was a woman,” said Assistant District Attorney Kelly Lloyd.
Bean admitted to the circumstances and to his role in the alleged murderfor-hire plot during a brief hearing before Judge Todd D. Eisenberg. The judge remanded Bean to the county jail without bail to await his sentencing hearing.
Bean, who is represented by defense lawyer Thomas C. Egan III, faces a possible maximum sentence of 35 to 70 years in prison on the charges when he’s sentenced later this year. The open plea means Bean has no deals with prosecutors regarding his potential punishment.
In court papers, detectives alleged Wesley solicited Bean to kill the Norristown woman because Wesley believed the woman “had cooperated with law enforcement” during an investigation of Wesley’s alleged “dealings with firearms and drug deliveries.”
But Bean then recruited Morales and the two of them traveled to Norristown with the intent to shoot and kill the Norristown woman, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective David Holtzman and former Norristown Detective Kathleen Kelly, who is now a county detective.
On Friday, Bean admitted he was present when Morales fired the gunshots.
Morales, 33, of the 2300 block of West Third Street, Chester, Delaware County, previously pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder and is awaiting sentencing, essentially admitting to being the gunman.
Wesley, 37, of the first block of South Merion Avenue, Lower Merion, the alleged mastermind of the plot, is awaiting trial on charges of attempted murder, solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the incident. That trial is slated to begin June 25.
Lloyd said hiring somebody to carry out “a hit” on a person cooperating with law enforcement is something prosecutors will not tolerate. Such threats of retaliation can hinder investigations by making witnesses reluctant to assist law enforcement, Lloyd said.
“It is known to law enforcement that cooperation with the police is not
“When he found out the target was a woman, he would not carry out the hit. He recruited somebody else to do it because he was uncomfortable with the fact that she was a woman.” — Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Lloyd
accepted in criminal society and often results in retaliation and violence toward the cooperating person,” detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The investigation began when Norristown police responded to the 100 block of Haws Avenue for a shooting in progress.
Police learned that the Norristown woman, a passenger in a Jeep Cherokee, suffered gunshot wounds to her right hand and left bicep while her male companion,
who was in the driver’s seat, suffered wounds to his torso and his right leg. The pair had just exited a Haws Avenue residence and gotten into the Jeep to go to a store when they were ambushed, according to court papers.
The male victim immediately drove the pair to a local hospital and they survived the attack.
Investigators used social media posts, video surveillance cameras in the vicinity of the shooting and cellphone analysis data to link
Wesley, Bean and Morales to the shooting plot. Cellphone records placed Bean and Morales in the area of Haws Avenue at the time of the shooting, according to a criminal complaint.
Video surveillance depicted Morales, the passenger, and Bean, the driver, exiting a burgundy Chevrolet Impala parked in the 400 block of West Lafayette Street and walking toward Haws Avenue at about 4:53 p.m. Dec. 2. Morales, at 5:08 p.m., is observed running
from the Haws Avenue area where the shooting occurred back to the Impala, “holding something in his jacket pocket with his left hand,” according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives “believe Morales had his left hand in his jacket pocket to secure a firearm while running,” according to the arrest affidavit. Video surveillance depicted Bean returning to the Impala at 5:10 p.m. and the pair then fled the area to Darby and Chester in Delaware County, detectives alleged.
“Cellular telephone records show Bean’s cellular telephone having contact with Joseph Wesley’s cellphone immediately after the shooting,” detectives alleged. “Cellular tower records show Joseph Wesley traveling out of state after the shooting.”
Court documents alleged Wesley, Morales and Bean each have extensive criminal records dating back more than 10 years.