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Prosecutor: Trilby Slaying Case Based On Drug War

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By GEORGE WILKENS

gwilkens@tampatrib.com

Published: February 28, 2009

DADE CITY - When Luc Pierre-Charles Jr. stands trial March 9 for the 2006 slayings of two Wesley Chapel teens, witnesses against him will include the man accused of killing a "person of interest" days after he helped investigators.

Commie Lateel Pattmon was arrested in September 2006 and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jeremy Hanson Henry, who authorities had named a person of interest in the slayings of Derek James Pieper, 17, and Raymond Alphones Veluz, 18. The teens were gunned down on a dirt road in Trilby on July 28, 2006.

At a court hearing Friday, prosecutors said Pattmon will testify that Pierre-Charles, 21, of Wesley Chapel, offered him $2,500 to kill Henry.

Henry, a 20-year-old Dade City resident, was shot and killed Aug. 13, 2006, days after he contacted a Pasco County sheriff's detective. He denied being involved in the killings and pointed the finger at Pierre-Charles and a Zephyrhills man, Tyree Jenkins, 22.

"The whole case is based on a drug war," Assistant State Attorney Manuel Garcia said at Friday's hearing.

Pattmon, 26, claims that days after the slayings, Pierre-Charles gave him guns and asked him to "take care of them," saying they could get him a life sentence.

Pieper and Veluz were found facedown in a field near Harris Hill Road. Both had been shot in the back multiple times.

The case remained open until July, when investigators issued warrants for Pierre-Charles and Jenkins.

Jenkins' trial is scheduled for June 1.

Pierre-Charles was arrested in October after the U.S. Marshals Service tracked him to a relative's home in the east-central Florida city of Rockledge.

Prosecutors announced this month they would seek the death penalty for Pierre-Charles and Jenkins.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433.

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