Two South Florida men face life in prison after pleading guilty to plumber’s murder
Two South Florida men have pleaded guilty to murdering a plumber who was called to a Miami Lakes home in a robbery set-up and later got shot during a struggle inside a getaway car, federal authorities said Monday.
Jamal Lamar Head, the shooter, and Keon Travy Glanton, the accomplice, were charged with robbery, kidnapping and killing the plumber, Lester Hernandez, 37, who died on July 12, 2018. The Miami-Dade men face up to life in prison at their federal court sentencing this summer.
According to factual statements filed with their plea agreements, Head was involved in three robbery schemes targeting plumbers at three South Florida residences — Miami Gardens, Riviera Beach and Miami Lakes — between July 9 and July 12 of 2018. Glanton participated in the Riviera Beach and Miami Lakes robberies.
Here’s how the deadly incident unfolded: Glanton contacted a plumbing company and scheduled a service call at a vacant home in Miami Lakes. When the plumber, Hernandez, arrived in his van, he was confronted by Glanton and Head, according to court records. They forced him into the rear of the Volkswagen that Head had rented. Head drove the car away, and Glanton followed in the plumber’s van.
Head got into a struggle with the plumber inside the car, according to the factual statements. Head then shot Hernandez once in the head and twice in the abdomen and chest, causing his death. Head crashed the rental car into a tree and injured himself. The incident happened at Northwest 89th Avenue near Northwest 146th Street.
Head fled the scene and called Glanton, who returned to the area in the plumber’s van to pick him up, the statements said. Head and Glanton drove to another area of Miami, where they doused the plumber’s van in gasoline and lit it on fire.
Murder cases typically end up in state court. But the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged the case as a Hobbs Act armed robbery — one that affects commerce — along with multiple other violent crimes.
The crimes to which Glanton and Head pleaded guilty include conspiring to commit a Hobbs Act robbery, carjacking resulting in death, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The offense carried a possible death penalty, but prosecutors chose not to pursue that course and instead reached plea deals with potential life sentences.
Glanton, 35, pleaded guilty on Friday and will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy Altman on Aug. 25. Head pleaded guilty last month and faces sentencing on July 20.
The case, prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys Daniel J. Marcet and Jessica Kahn Obenauf, was investigated by the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
