Murderer’s brother reaches plea deal with feds

Defendant’s brother was part of trio convicted for woman’s killing

A man who helped his jailed brother and subsequent convicted murderer plot insurance fraud via arson pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, according to U.S. District Court documents.

Lawrence Rider-El last week reached a plea deal with U.S. Attorneys in which he will plead guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and up to three years of supervised release, court documents say.

No plea or sentencing date was scheduled in front of Judge Gerschwin Drain.

Rider-El was facing an April 26 trial date.

Rider-El in the deal agrees the judge will determine the sentencing-guideline range but is not bound by it. Rider-El and the U.S. Attorneys cannot back out of the deal, documents say.

U.S. Attorneys agreed Rider-El will receive “a second level reduction” of his sentence for accepting responsibility, records say.

Rider-El is the brother of George Rider, 63, who was convicted of first-degree murder in June 2019 by a Macomb County Circuit Court jury for the January 2017 shooting death of Julii Johnson, 34, of Hazel Park, outside her boyfriend, James Lattner’s, Warren home. Also convicted of first-degree murder were co-defendants Marcie Griffin, 51, of Eastpointe, and Eric Gibson, 28, of Detroit. Rider, who had lived in Macomb and Oakland counties, was the middle-man between Gibson, who fired the shots, and Griffin, who was James Lattner’s ex-girlfriend and mother of his children and wanted Johnson dead.

They were sentenced in July 2019 to life in prison without parole.

Starting in May 2019, while George Rider was housed in the Macomb County Jail, the feds allege Rider plotted with his brother, Lawrence Rider-El, and Robert Reed White to conduct an arsoninsurance scam to collect more than $100,000 from a home arson.

The trio was indicted in August 2019, although charges against George Rider were dropped following his murder conviction.

White also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced in April 2021 to three years probation.

Authorities were assisted by a jail inmate who told Rider he had a $1 million home in Washington Township. Rider told the inmate he had committed 100 arsons and “has set multiple houses on fire and made $100,000 to $200,000 from submitting fraudulent insurance claims from arsons,” the complaint says.

A federal undercover officer impersonated the inmate’s “Uncle Sal,” who sent $1,000 to the conspirators to set the home on fire, which never occurred.

In the plea deal, RiderEl says acknowledged his culpability in August 2019.

“I knew that co-conspirators were involved in a scheme to defraud or do something illegal and I agreed with them to accept funds that were sent from ‘Uncle Sal’ in New Jersey to Freestar Financial Credit Union in Macomb County, Michigan. I accepted the funds from the scheme and kept it for myself,” he said.