Paris-John Earnest Devine, 26, of St. Louis pleaded guilty Monday (Feb. 11) to federal charges stemming from a carjacking in St. Louis and a home invasion at a Jefferson County mobile home that left an alleged accomplice dead. Both incidents happened in 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
Devine pleaded guilty to carjacking, brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine. His sentencing is scheduled for May 14, the report said.
The carjacking charge carries a penalty of not more than 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Brandishing a firearm is punishable by up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine, and conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute over 500 grams of meth is punishable by up to life in prison and a $10,000,000 fine.
Devine, Courtney A. Brown, Raymond Christopher Seay and the late Ramone Thomas reportedly showed up Oct. 11, 2017, at a mobile home in the 700 block of Chancellor Lane in unincorporated Fenton, along with a woman, Kathleen Marie Hydar of Fenton, with the intent to steal a large amount of meth, cash and guns. Hydar allegedly told the men about Coffman’s mobile home, prosecutors reported.
While the men were inside the mobile home ransacking it and Hydar was waiting outside in the car, Coffman showed up. Hydar reportedly moved into the driver’s seat of the car and drove away with an unindicted person in the back seat, prosecutors said.
The four men attempted to run for the car, but Hydar had already left, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Before the men fled, however, Thomas had passed a handgun to Brown, who allegedly fired it. The shot struck Thomas, and he was found dead at the scene, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
After the suspects were taken into custody, Brown told authorities he had pointed the gun at the mobile home “to scare” the homeowner and inadvertently fired it, striking Thomas, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The carjacking charge stemmed from a Sept. 28, 2017, incident in St. Louis when Devine reportedly robbed a pizza delivery driver and then demanded the driver’s 2013 Kia Forte at gunpoint, prosecutors said.
That stolen car was used when Devine and the others went to Coffman’s mobile home. Hydar, Brown and Seay also were charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine. In addition, Brown was charged with discharging a firearm that resulted in the death of Thomas, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The owner of the mobile home, Chad Coffman, pleaded guilty last year to possession with the intent to distribute meth after authorities found five pounds of meth in the home. Coffman is now serving eight years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The case was investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office, the Major Case Squad and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Special Assistant United States Attorney Angie Danis is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.