People v. Douglas Weissert, Eddie Lewis and Danwood Durst

On February 1, 2006, two masked individuals entered the home of Frank Sibson, a local drug dealer in Muskegon Township, to rob him. Sibson fought with one of the robbers and during the ensuing struggle, Sibson was shot four times and killed. A search of the Sibson home and garage located over $70,000.00 in cash, pounds of marijuana and several ounces of powder cocaine. Law enforcement authorities, however, were unable to identify the killers. In an effort to crack the case, the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office worked with local law enforcement to form a homicide task force with participation from the Muskegon Township Police Department, the Michigan State Police, the Muskegon Police Department, the Muskegon County Sheriff’s Department and the Fruitport Township Police Department.

Authorities focused on Sibson’s drug connections, executing numerous search warrants and conducting multiple interviews. A crack in the case came when a domestic violence victim reported that Eddie Lewis had been involved in the robbery/homicide. Search warrants were executed at the homes of Eddie Lewis, Danwood Durst and Douglas Weissert. Authorities were able to determine that it was Lewis and Durst who actually entered the Sibson home and that Lewis shot and killed Frank Sibson. Lewis and Durst were charged with Sibson’s death. Further investigation established that the mastermind of the planned robbery was Douglas Weissert, one of Sibson’s drug conspirators, and the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office also charged Douglas Weissert with Sibson’s death. Durst plead guilty to Second Degree Murder, received a sentence of 18 to 35 years and prison, and testified at the trials of Eddie Lewis and Douglas Weissert. Eddie Lewis and Douglas Weissert were both convicted by juries of First Degree Felony Murder and are currently serving life without parole. As a result of the task force investigation, the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office has also charged six other individuals involved with Sibson’s drug business with conspiracy to deliver marijuana.

Russian Organized Crime Comes to Muskegon

An alert clerk at a local electronics store became suspicious of two individuals attempting to pick up items purchased on-line. The two suspects fled the store and subsequently were stopped by officers of the Norton Shores Police Department. In the van driven by the suspects, police located numerous plasma televisions purchased at electronics stores across the state. What began as a local investigation soon grew into local, state and federal law enforcement authorities uncovering an organized crime enterprise involving individuals of Russian descent operating in Michigan, California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio and New York. This Russian organized crime group was placing on-line orders for high value electronic items (plasma televisions, digital cameras, laser printers, laptop computers, desktop computers) with electronics stores. Items purchased were paid for using stolen credit card information and picked up by two person teams using fraudulently manufactured credit cards and driver’s licenses.

The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office worked with the Norton Shores Police Department, the Michigan State Police, the United States Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, drafting numerous search warrants that were executed throughout Michigan. What Muskegon County and Federal Law Enforcement uncovered during the four-month investigation was a criminal organization of Russian immigrants, many of them having illegally entered this country, participating in a sophisticated, massive on-line fraud using stolen financial information and identity theft. The items that were ordered on-line were picked up in rental vans rented with false documentation, navigated using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units by individuals using fraudulent Nevada and Arizona driver's licenses and possessing fraudulent Visa and MasterCard credit cards.

Law enforcement authorities identified 3 two-person teams operating in Michigan under the direction of Michael Sarkisoff. Sarkisoff and members of his organization kept in contact through the use of prepaid untraceable cell phones, disposing of the cell phones and obtaining new ones every few months as an added protection against detection. Cell phones seized from members of his organization had code names in the address books to prevent detection. Sarkisoff’s codename was the “Godfather”. The fraudulently manufactured credit cards were produced using high quality materials and an actual credit card manufacturing machine. This machine was located, and seized, in a residence used by Sarkisoff on the east side of the state. Stolen items were shipped by this organization to out of state locations within hours of pickup at a store. In 2006, five of these individuals, including Sarkisoff, were charged and convicted in Muskegon County, with two others being convicted by Federal authorities in Detroit, in a scheme that involved 175 thefts from electronics stores across the state. Federal Authorities have continued the investigation into other states, resulting in additional arrests and federal prosecutions.

People v. Vaughn Hill

In December 2002, two very violent Grand Rapids street gangs were at war with each other over issues of gang pride and a lucrative drug trade. Known as the “Lafayettes” and the “U & T” gangs, they were responsible for several shooting deaths in 2001 and 2002. On December 15, 2002, Jason Lotts and Vaughn “Wee Wee” Hill of the “Lafayettes” gang chose to use Muskegon County as the place to assassinate Jabbar Dean, an associate of the “U & T” gang. In a plan formulated by Hill, Lotts and Hill followed Dean out of Rush Street Bar and to the area of Peck and Broadway. When Dean got out of his automobile, Lotts approached and shot him to death with a 9mm handgun. In 2005, Lotts was convicted of First Degree Premeditated Murder and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Muskegon County homicide. Hill fled the state, but was eventually arrested in 2006 and returned to Muskegon County for trial.

In what was a complicated, circumstantial case, the prosecution was able to use over 100 exhibits and 40 witnesses to show that Hill and Lotts had left Rush Street Bar just moments after Dean, that Lotts was a “soldier” or underling of Hill’s, that Hill knew that Dean would be unarmed while in Muskegon, and that Hill’s automobile was used to carry Lotts to and from the murder scene. Further, the prosecution was able to use telephone records and other evidence to establish that Hill had a dual motive to have Dean killed: as a favor for the head of the “Lafayettes,” and to avenge Dean’s having “disrespected” Hill and other “Lafayettes” at a Grand Rapids bar two weeks earlier. A jury found Hill guilty of First Degree Premeditated Murder for his role in the homicide. On September 29, 2006, Hill was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.