Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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Damarcus Tremayne Crump, 19, and Deandre Marcus Moore, 20, have been charged with accessory after the fact of murder.
On Jan. 6, Ronnie Lee Covington, Jr., 20, and Keith Lauchon Jackson Jr., 18, were charged with murdering Sweitzer by the High Point Police Department.
They were apprehended due to the combined efforts of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and Thomasville Police Department (TPD).
Attempting to find the suspects of 10 convenience store robberies in Thomasville, High Point and Lexington, the TPD joined with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office for a saturation patrol in northern Thomasville that uncovered the suspects of the robberies and two suspects in the Sweitzer murder case.
Covington and Jackson — along with Quaki Emil Hairston, 17, and Matthew Christopher Savoy, 18, — were taken into custody by the TPD on charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon in connection to the convenience store robberies. They were placed in the Davidson County Jail under $500,000 bonds. The trial date has been set for Feb. 8.
New information — including the release of photos of the suspects — about Covington and Jackson was unveiled Friday by the Thomasville Police Department.
According to Lt. Raymond Widener, one of the Sweitzer murder suspects self-admitted that him and three other suspects are part of a gang called the 99 Mafia Crips. Police believe the gang is self-made. Widener said the suspect told this information, while confessing to the murder of Sweitzer, to TPD Detective Alan Pope and a High Point detective.
“These guys are validated [gang members] through self admission,” Widener said. “They were not on High Point’s radar under that set name. They didn’t even know they existed.”
Widener said robberies are a common part of gang activity.
Family members have told the Thomasville Times that Sweitzer had dreams of joining the High Point Police Department as a police officer. A former three-sport Thomasville High School athlete, he eventually wanted to be a FBI agent. Sweitzer had received an associate’s degree in criminal justice at Davidson County Community College in 2007.
According to the High Point Police Department, Jackson and Covington are charged with seven counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon. In addition, Hairston has one charge of robbery with a dangerous weapon and Savoy has six charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.