An Ohio teen who came under the influence of a convicted criminal turned self-styled street chaplain pleaded not guilty Friday to helping his mentor kill one man and try to kill another in a deadly Craigslist robbery scheme.
Brogan Rafferty, his ankles and wrists cuffed and dressed in a white T-shirt and orange jail pants, made a brief appearance Friday in Summit County Common Pleas Court. His plea came after he was transferred to the adult system from juvenile court because of the seriousness of the charges against him.
Authorities said that applicants who fell for the scheme answered a Craigslist ad for a job at a nonexistent cattle ranch in Noble County, 90 miles south of Akron in rural southeastern Ohio, were robbed, then killed.
The teen was questioned by the FBI and arrested in mid-November several days after Scott Davis, of South Carolina, said that he was shot in the arm and escaped after he answered the ad.
The body of Norfolk, Va., resident David Pauley, 51, was found on the Noble County property, owned by a coal company and often leased to hunters. Authorities said that Pauley was killed Oct. 23.
Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, was found Nov. 29 in a shallow grave near an Akron-area shopping mall. He had been shot in the head.
The complaint against the teen said that he participated in the crimes with Richard Beasley, 52, who had acted as his mentor.
Beasley was a Texas parolee who returned to Ohio in 2004 after serving time on a burglary conviction. He was awaiting trial on prostitution and drug charges when authorities took him into custody, and police have said a halfway house he ran in Akron was a front for prostitution.
Beasley has pleaded not guilty to the slayings and could face the death penalty if convicted. As a juvenile, Rafferty cannot.
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