Cartel turns over ‘killers’
Apology for kidnap-slay of Yanks
A secretive faction of Mexico’s notorious Gulf cartel apologized and turned in five members Wednesday who they claim are responsible for the broad-daylight kidnapping that killed two Americans last week.
The cartel’s Scorpions group said it “decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events” related to the March 3 abduction of four Americans in the border city of Matamoros, according to a letter leaked to the Associated Press by a Tamaulipas state law-enforcement source.
The letter also claimed the five members “acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline” when they attacked victims Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams.
McGee and Williams were found injured but alive in a shack on Tuesday after a four-day search. Woodard and Brown had been shot dead.
The ambush, the letter states, went against the Gulf cartel’s policy of “respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.”
The Tamaulipas source also showed AP a photograph of the five implicated men lying bound and facedown on the pavement.
A separate source, a state security official, told AP that the men were found tied up in a vehicle that is at the center of the kidnapping investigation.
News of the possible arrests comes amid reports Mexican law enforcement is pursuing a possible drug-trafficking motive for the abduction, which some experts initially called a tragic case of mistaken identity.
Law-enforcement sources told The Post on Wednesday that authorities were still working to confirm the cosmetic procedure appointment that McGee said was the reason for the friends’ trip.
A friend of the four Americans, Cheryl Orange, told AP Thursday that McGee “simply went for a cosmetic surgery, and that’s it. That’s all, and this happened to them.” Orange traveled with the group as far as Brownsville, Texas.
All four victims, childhood friends from South Carolina, had prior arrests for drug-related incidents, according to court documents obtained by The Post.
In March 2016, McGee, a 33-yearold mom of six, was arrested after her 6-year-old, two 8-year-olds and 11-year-old children tested positive for amphetamines, methamphetamine and marijuana.
McGee, who went by Latavia Washington at the time, was subsequently charged with five counts of unlawful conduct toward a child and received a five-year sentence that was suspended to two days, plus three years of probation. Records indicate that she violated her parole twice.
Woodard, 33, who was one of McGee’s relatives, also had drug-related charges. He was charged in 2008 with intent to distribute marijuana. The following year, Woodard racked up two additional charges for burglary.
More recently, in September 2015, Woodard was again charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Police frisked Woodard in the yard of a residence at 345 Scott St. in Lake City and found him carrying one or more ounces of “prepackaged marijuana,” the documents said.
Records indicate that Woodard took a plea deal and was sentenced to time served, or 100 days in a county detention center. The Florence County Clerk said that other charges against Woodard over the years were dismissed.
Meanwhile, survivor Williams, 38, was arrested in 2002. Records show he pleaded guilty to felony burglary charges.
In September 2015, he was slapped with a year of probation after officers found him carrying a pistol, which violated his restrictions as a convicted felon.
Months later, in March 2016, he sold cocaine, crack and Adderall to a police informant near an elementary school and was arrested in June. At the time of his arrest, police found crack and illicit Adderall on his person. Williams pleaded guilty to distribution charges and was jailed for 18 months, with credit given for 60 days’ time served.
Court documents also indicated that Brown, who was in his mid-20s at the time of his death, had marijuana possession charges, breach of the peace and domestic-violence charges that had all been dismissed.
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