A St. Louis record producer behind Nelly’s 2002 hit album “Nellyville” has been indicted in connection with the murder-for-hire plot to kill the grandson of Sweetie Pie’s owner Robbie Montgomery.
Federal prosecutors say Waiel “Wally” Yaghnam, 42, a music producer-turned insurance agent, worked with Timothy Norman, 41, Montgomery’s son, to fraudulently obtain a life insurance policy on his nephew, 21-year-old Andre Montgomery Jr., St. Louis Dispatch reports.
Yaghnam worked as Norman’s insurance agent, and faces one charge of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud after he allegedly made false statements on life insurance applications for Montgomery, prosecutors allege.
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theGRIO previously reported, Norman and his alleged co-conspirator, Terica Ellis, were arrested on federal charges earlier this week over the death of Montgomery, for whom Norman obtained a $450,000 life insurance policy in 2014. The nephew was fatally shot in St. Louis two years later. Norman tried unsuccessfully to collect on the policy one week after his death.
Norman, who starred in the OWN reality series Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s, was charged on Tuesday with conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire, resulting in death, according to a criminal complaint published by local TV station WLBT.
Prosecutors connected him to the shooting based on his alleged communications with Ellis.
Ellis used a prepaid cell phone “to communicate with Montgomery and learn his physical location for the purpose of luring Montgomery outside,” according to a news release obtained by The Associated Press. “Immediately after learning Montgomery’s location, Ellis placed a call to Norman.”
Authorities have not said who shot the victim, but Yaghnam is not charged in the murder.
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As a business partner in Sweetie Pie’s, Norman’s mother sued him in 2016 for copyright infringement after he opened several restaurants outside the St. Louis market.
Both Norman and his nephew appeared on OWN’s Sweetie Pie’s, which followed the restaurant family business in Mississippi and aired for nine seasons on OWN from 2011 to 2018.
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