Kevin Coles, Murder, Pennsylvania 2016

Three Consecutive Life Sentences For Man Who Participated In The Murder Of Three People Including A Federal Witness

HARRISBURG – In a ruthless display of violence, Kevin Coles, a 37-year-old man from New York and Hagerstown, Maryland, has been sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment for his role in the June 25, 2016, murders of three individuals in Mercersburg, Franklin County. The consecutive sentences were imposed by United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner, who also sentenced Coles to multiple additional consecutive terms of imprisonment amounting to 35 additional years for various firearms convictions. 

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Coles’ conviction was the result of a six-year investigation into murders of three individuals that occurred on June 25, 2016, on a property along Welsh Run Road in Mercersburg, Franklin County. When Pennsylvania State Police officers were called to the crime scene, they found the bodies of Wendy Ann Chaney, 39, Hagerstown, Md, Brandon Cole, 47, Fayetteville, PA, and Phillip Matthew Jackson, 36, Mercersburg, PA, in a barn on victim Jackson’s property. All were shot. The three victims had their hands zipped-tied behind their backs and had been set on fire. Jackson and Cole were shot once in the head. Chaney was shot twice, once in the back and once in the neck. Wendy Chaney and Brandon Cole were already dead when the police responded to the scene. Phillip Jackson was transported to York Hospital where he died shortly after arrival.

Coles was tried by a jury in Harrisburg in April 2022, and convicted on all 16 counts of the indictment, to include interstate travel to commit murder, murder of a witness, and drug trafficking offenses. The evidence established that Wendy Chaney was in a relationship with Kevin Coles and a coconspirator and had been previously assisting both with their drug distribution operation. Coles, the coconspirator, and co-defendant Devin Dickerson learned that Chaney was cooperating with federal authorities and contracted for her to be murdered. Co-defendants Jerell Adgebesan and Kenyatta Corbett recruited members of a Baltimore-based gang known as the Black Guerilla Family and others from Baltimore to travel to the Jackson property to kill Wendy Chaney. The killers were promised that they could take as payment $20,000 that was to be in a safe in the barn and any drugs and firearms that they could locate on the Jackson property. Once there, the killers encountered not only Wendy Chaney but also Brandon Cole and Phillip Jackson. Chaney was killed to protect the drug trafficking activities of Coles, and his co-conspirators. Jackson and Cole were murdered to prevent them from being witnesses to the crimes of violence that were committed at the Jackson property. The killers never found any money on the property but stole some drugs and firearms.

The following individuals were charged along with Coles as a result of the investigation:

Devin Dickerson, age 31, Hagerstown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and crack cocaine and is awaiting sentencing;

Kenyatta Corbett, age 38, Hagerstown, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and to being an accomplice to the use of a firearm during Hobbs Act robbery and is awaiting sentencing;

Michael Buck, age 30, Hagerstown, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and to being an accomplice to the use of a firearm during Hobbs Act robbery and is awaiting sentencing;

Nicholas Preddy, age 29, Baltimore, pleaded guilty to attempting to kill a witness and is awaiting sentencing;

Johnnie Jenkins-Armstrong, age 22, Baltimore, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and to being an accomplice to the use of a firearm during Hobbs Act robbery and is awaiting sentencing;

Terrance Lawson, age 31, Baltimore, sentenced to time served for attempting to intimidate a witness;

Tyrone Armstrong, age 30, Baltimore, sentenced to time served for attempting to intimidate a witness;

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