Drug gang defendant takes guilty plea

A man police say was part of a large crime ring involved in home invasions, drugs and murder has pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, home invasion, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony and conspiracy.

Shamir Stratton, 26, could testify at trial against five co-defendants in the deaths of two men near Millsboro in 2014. Stratton had been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to four lesser charges that could see him face a maximum of 77 years in prison, with 12 years mandatory.

Tall, with brown-tipped dreadlocks, the soft-spoken Stratton, of Pennsauken, N.J., agreed to a plea bargain and will not face trial.

Prosecutors alleged Stratton, Steven Kellam, Richard Robinson, Rhamir Waples, Carlton Gibbs and Damon Bethea murdered Cletis Nelson and William Hopkins at Nelson’s Harmons Hill Road home after going there to steal drugs and money the group expected to find there. Prosecutors allege Kellam was the ringleader of the gang, which they say operated Mafia-style, robbing drug houses in Kent and Sussex counties.

The crime ring was busted in June 2015 as part of Delaware State Police’s Operation In The House, which led to the arrest of 35 people, most on charges of conspiracy and distribution of heroin and cocaine that police say the gang acquired by stealing it during home invasions. Following the murders of Nelson and Hopkins, police say Kellam, Robinson and Waples robbed and pistol-whipped two people in separate home invasions, and also shot and wounded another man at his home on Cordrey Road in Millsboro.

Trials of the five murder suspects will be held separately. Robinson is scheduled for trial Tuesday, Jan. 3, with a final case review set for Monday, Dec. 19.