Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to
this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon
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smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for
your support. All right, So, the trial for the murderers
of Scott Brooks, the well known restauranteur in No Dah
neighborhood in just north of Uptown called No Da. It'll
resume tomorrow. There's no trial today because of Veterans Day.
Prosecutors though this is according to wsoctv's Hunter Saints. Prosecutors
have presented surveillance footage showing two masked suspects approaching the business.
This was back in twenty nineteen. It has taken six
years for this case to come to trial. Scott Brooks
and his twin brother owned Brooks's Sandwich House and he
had approached the business. He was opening up for the day.
It was early in the morning. I think it was
like four in the morning or so. The assistant DA
trying the case, Heidi Pearlman, said, their business talking about
the murderers, alleged murders, Their business was shooting when things
didn't go their way. She has been allowed to bring
in evidence of other murders, and so she's making this
connection that this is basically the mo of these defendants.
It's to rob people and then murder them, so there
are no witnesses. The footage showed Scott Brooks aviving at
his restaurant before sunrise, unaware that the armed suspects were
following him. Prosecutors detailed that after Brooks was robbed, he
attempted to defend himself with a gun from his coat pocket,
and the murderers then shot him. They got about one
hundred bucks in cash. Quote. As soon as Scott pulled
it out and tried to protect himself, one of the
defendants started firing and he did not stop until Scott
was on the ground. That's according to the assistant DA Pearlman.
The defense is attempting to cast doubt on the investigation.
See we have to ignore the video of the murder
because the problem was the investigation. See She said that
the crime scene was not properly handled by CMPD. That's
going to exonerate these guys, see after they were caught
on video murdering Scott Brooks. It's the way the CMPD
handled the crime scene after the fact. That's the reason
why we can't be sure that the guys on the
video murdering Scott Brooks are not the guys that murdered
Scott Brooks. I guess well, look, sometimes you don't have
a strong defense to mount Okay. Laura Baker, defense attorney
for one of the murderers. Alleged murders, question the integrity
of the crime scene, stating quote, is that a problem
for your original crime scene when people come in and
stash their trash on your original crime scene? Yes? So,
I guess what, maybe some homeless people made their way
into the crime scene or something. Because he wasn't discovered immediately,
his body was found a couple hours later, if I recall,
prosecutors alleged that defendants Steven Staples and Terry Conner had
a pattern of robbing cash only businesses and then killing
victims to cover up their crimes. A CMPD officer testified
about another homicide, a double homicide that has been linked
to these two defendants. It involved a man and a
woman found dead in a range rover with their hands
and faces taped. So just for a moment, think about
their final moments. These people were executed in their car
in Charlotte. They had their hands wrapped up in tape
and their face is wrapped up in tape. I imagine
it could be like over their mouths, mouths and eyes.
And then murder that executed in their car. That's that's
the double murder that's connected to Scott Brooks's murder. I
recall that there was Yeah, So they are accused of
robbing and shooting Brooks to death at four forty five
am December ninth, twenty nineteen, as he was preparing to
open Brooks's sandwich house. I had the to do to
do in one of these stories here, Oh yeah, there
it is. The suspects have extensive criminal records are connected
to several homicides. Staples, at eighteen years old, carjacked a
public works truck and trailer before crashing it and taking off.
Staples and his buddies were then arrested after that for
kicking in hundreds of doors, hundreds of doors across the city.
An armed robbery sent Staples to prison in twenty ten.
He was released in twenty sixteen. Three years later, he
went on a killing spree shortly after investigators shortly after
he allegedly murdered Scott Brooks. Investigators said Staples became their
suspect in a December twenty third, twenty nineteen slag of
Anthony Leeks, also in Charlotte. So again they're murdering these
people days before Christmas. Like the wreckage, the absolute wreckage
that these men have left in their wake is an
abomination and is an indictment on everybody that has had
any interaction with them in the criminal justice system. It
is shameful and people are dead because of it. The people,
I would point out, the people that pay for the
justice system through their tax dollars, that pay for an
umbrella of security so they may lead peaceful, productive lives,
engaging in commerce that generates revenue for all of these
city functions and all of the projects that you guys
want to build, all of the bright and shiny things.
These are the productive members of your society that are
being hunted and pray to upon by these career criminals
that go on murder sprees. Staples and Connor, whom detectives
called partners in crime, were also charged in a double
homicide involving Asa Shannon and Chavon Joseph, who were found
dead in their range rover as I mentioned, along a
Tondo Avenue January eleventh, twenty twenty. Both shot in the
head the home they were associated with, which is a
weird way to say that, but I guess they lived
there or rented it or something. But they had ransacked
their home and burglarized their home, so they murdered them
and they took I guess they found out where these
victims lived from maybe the car registration in the glovebox,
maybe on their driver's license, from their wallet purse, and
then they went to the home, or maybe they went
to the home first, or maybe they went to the
home and kidnapped these people and then murdered them along
a Tondo Avenue. I'm not sure the details. Judge trosh
said that the crimes on a Tondo Avenue and at
Brooks Sandwich House shared a similar motive, which was getting
quick cash and allegedly killing to avoid being identified. So
we allowed it to come in as evidence. The suspects
defense attorneys hope the other case would not be allowed
in as evidence, but it will be. Oh Staples, he
had already pleaded guilty to second degree murder for killing
a guy up in Hickory on January twenty third. He's
already imprisoned for that one, infuriating you know. Stories are powerful.
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anchors away, Happy vetteran to all who served and all
their families as well for your sacrifice. Also, yes, I
have played the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard
and now the Navy. One remains. Which one is it?
I did the alphabetical also, so this like there's I
was going to go random, but then I was like, no,
I don't want people to accuse me of playing favorites
or anything like that, so I just did them alphabetically.
So that's a hint for you for the last one.
So not far from where Scott Brooks was murdered in
twenty nineteen in the Noda neighborhood, there's another neighborhood outside
of Uptown Charlotte. It's called Plaza Midwood. In this story
from four days ago, Monroe police set a suspect connected
to a double homicide in Monroe is the same man
responsible for another killing in North Charlotte. Adam Latif Mercado,
thirty four, of Monroe, killed two men at an apartment
complex in Nelda Drive in Monroe. He stole one of
the victim's cars and drove it to a Plaza Midwood
warehouse where he then killed Gerald Thomas Barnes, sixty eight
years old, in the warehouse on Central Avenue. It was
about ten pm. Surveillance video showed Mercado walk up to
Barnes at about two pm and showed him showed him,
opened up his book bag and showed Barnes something in
the book bag. The video shows Mercado then stabbing Barnes
multiple times before stealing his wallet and his car. So
the murder occurred at two o'clock in the afternoon, but
his body was not discovered until ten pm. That was
from WSOCTV. Also from WSOCTV in I think this was
the one of the first stories that they put out
on this. Yeah, this was one of the first stories.
He showed him something in the backpack before stabbing him
in the neck. The suspect demanded the victim's car keys.
The suspect then stabbed the victim more times after he
was given the keys. The suspect then stole the victim's
wallet and his vehicle, the Honda fit vehicle. Barnes's family
expressed their devastation and frustration, believing that the system failed
them by allowing Mercado, who has a wait for it,
a lengthy criminal record dating back to two thousand and nine,
to remain free. Yeah. Yeah, you should be frustrated with
a system that allows this man to continue to walk
the streets, as should the family of the other two
people who were murdered. The family of Gerald Thomas Barnes
said they knew something was wrong when he did not
check in on them. They got very concerned about him
when they called the warehouse Thursday afternoon and he did
not answer. And that's unusual because in addition to being
a businessman being a productive member of our Charlotte community,
he was also his wife's caregiver. He and his wife
were married for twenty five years, and he always answered
his phone. He wasn't answering the phone. His family got
very worried. They contacted an employee that had a key
to the business, and when he entered the warehouse, he
found Barnes's body. Charlotte Mecklburgh police then contacted Monroe police
because the stolen car at the warehouse. At the scene,
they ran the tags and they said, this belongs to
somebody in Monroe. They call Monroe police, you may want
to go do a wellness check at these apartments. When
police arrived a couple hours later, they found Matthew Charles
Moody fifty two and James Curtis Wallace forty nine, dead
inside a first floor apartment. Mercado was taken into custody
in Anson County and transferred back to Mecklenburg to be charged.
Investigators in Monroe say there were no signs of forced
entry into the apartment and they have not released the
cause of death. So this guy went on a triple
homicide murder spree. It's infuriating, all right. If you're listening
to this show, you know I try to keep up
with all sorts of current events, and I know you
do too, And you've probably heard me say get your
news from multiple sources. Why, Well, because it's how you
detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed
with ground News. It's an app and it's a website,
and it combines news from around the world in one
place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You
can check it out at check dot ground, dot news
slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too.
I started using ground News a few months ago and
more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate
because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered
and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which
stories get ignored by the left and the right. See
for yourself check dot ground, dot news slash pete. Subscribe
through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription.
I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to
every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast,
but it also supports ground News as they make the
media landscape more transparent. Let me jump over here to
the phone lines and chat with Teresa. Welcome to the show, Teresa.
How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm fine?
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm doing all right? What's going on?
Speaker 2: Well? I am the young lady that Adam Mercaro tried
to come into my office on me because I was
evicting his girlfriend and my case and some other cases
is what seeming to prison. They told me that he
wouldn't be out before twenty twenty six, so I kind of,
you know, relaxed a little bit. I quit carry my
gun because you know, he had been on ankle monitor
and cut it off. So I had been really worried
till they caught him again. Well, I'm at the store
about to months ago, and I hear somebody yell derogatory name,
and I looked up and it was him, and I
was so shocked that he was out of prison. Nobody
contacted me, Nobody told me. I mean, this is a
man that came tried to come up in my office
with two guns, a knife. He had on gloves and
a mask. He wasn't coming in there to see what
I wanted for lunch. Coming in there, I guess to
try to hurt me.
Speaker 1: Of course, Yeah, it sounds like it, all right. So
how long ago was this?
Speaker 2: Twenty eighteen is when the day after Christmas was the
day he tried.
Speaker 1: To come up in here, all right, And so he
was He had a girlfriend who was renting a property
that you owned.
Speaker 2: No, I'm a property manager.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I've been.
Speaker 2: Doing this same property here for about twenty nine years.
And I had moved her from where he came from
Monroe to him. Oh, and I had promised her. I
told her to promise me she wouldn't have no dealings
with him and that so she had a restraint in order.
And I said, if he comes around now and you
start letting him, I'll have to put you out. Well,
she did good for about two years, and then all
of a sudden, here he started coming, and so I
sent her an eviction letter because of it. And I
believe he thought that if he come in here, because
I was I guess I was about sixty six back then.
He I think he thought he could scare me that
he'd be coming here on me. He could scare me
and I would leave and the eviction would go away.
But it wouldn't have went away. Whoever sits down at
this job is gonna do the same job I'm doing.
Speaker 1: So you yeah, so you sent the letter. How soon
after the letter did he show up?
Speaker 2: Well, she had thirty days to be out and we
were doing court the week after December twenty sixth, and
he came in. It was like two weeks later. He
came in on December twenty sixth, tried to come in right.
Speaker 1: So it's what he couldn't get through the door or something.
Speaker 2: Well know what happened was, and I tell people all
the time when I tell this story, is that God
had his hands on me. My son worked late and
for some reason that day he called me and he said, Mama,
where are you at. I said, I'm in the office.
He said, I got to see you. I said, what
do you mean? He said, I just I feel the
need to see you. So he come up here. So
when Adam opened up the door, he thought it was
just going to be me and I have another elderly assistant.
He thought it was just going to be two women
in here. He didn't expect to see a man sitting there.
And when he snatched up the door saw my son,
and I got a big son. He slammed the door
shut and my son said, Mama, that guy had on
a mask and everything I said, just locked the door.
I figured it was somebody that had gotten off the bus,
you know, because we deal with a lot of homeless
people sometimes. And next thing I know, it wasn't ten minutes.
He was trying to rip the back door off. He
was like a crazy man trying to pull my back
door down.
Speaker 1: So you'd gone around to the back of the property
to try to gain access that way after he got
scared away from the front door. Yeah right, and so
then so how did he so how did he end
up leaving the property?
Speaker 2: Well, I called the comps and I said, look, y'all
need to come on. He's trying to tear my back
door down. And they got here. They must have been
pretty close, and they got here, and they chased him
down and they got him at the apartment complex down
below me. And they didn't bring him up here for
me to see him. But when they when they came in,
they said he had two guns and a knife, Miss Teresa,
And I said, well, I don't take cash, so what
would he be wanting to rob me for? She said
that they said they didn't know. Well, I left and
went I went on home because it kind of shook
me a little bit sure, And of course I got
to the grocery store and I got a call from
a detective and he said, we're just trying to figure
out why this guy from Monroe is all of a
sudden in Charlotte. He said, we arrested him three weeks
ago for breaking into the funeral home down below you.
And I said from Monroe. I said what's his name?
And he said Adam and I said Adam Mercardo. He
said yeah yeah. I said, oh lord, he wasn't coming
to rob me. I said, he was coming either to
hurt me or kill me or try to scare me.
I'm a victim his girlfriend.
Speaker 1: Right, So where do you mind saying? Where? Like what
part of town you were working in at this time?
Speaker 2: Oh? I worked right here off of Freedom Drive upside
apartments on Freedom Driving TONSLS.
Speaker 1: Okay, so then all right, so they arrest him for that,
and they what put him on. He gets released on
an ankle monitor.
Speaker 2: After that, Well, he didn't get released immediately, and I
was going to go do a restraint order and the
cop said, ah, he'll not get out. You don't got
to worry about it. And a restraint their owner is
only good as the papers written, only if they don't abide, bye,
So don't worry about it. Well, it wasn't a month
or so. They let him out on electronic martyring. They
didn't call me, but the detectives called me and said, look,
he's out on electronic monitoring. So that's when I started
chilling in my gun.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't. Oh god, I can't remember. Now, three
weeks a month, I get a call at about eleven
thirty at night, Miss Hunt. He's cut off the monitor bracelet.
You need to be careful.
Speaker 1: And so this was This would have been.
Speaker 2: Another two and a half months to catch him.
Speaker 1: So this would have been like twenty nineteen timeframe. Yes, okay,
so they did. How did they end up catching him?
Do you know?
Speaker 2: I think they got him in a traffic stop if
I'm not mistaken, okay.
Speaker 1: And so at that point then he gets taken too
what Mecklenburg jail and he stays there, yes, okay.
Speaker 2: Yes, he remained there till we went to court.
Speaker 1: And uh.
Speaker 2: And it's like everything he had a he had a
list of charges and I've never understood this, but they
break that and dismissed the majority of them, and they
only keep the ones that are giving the most time,
like the gun having a gun by failing and the
breaking and entering I think at the funeral home.
Speaker 1: So I was there that day and I spoke, did
they dismiss yours?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: They threw out the charges that he that he had
caught for coming to your place. They tossed this, So
is that a plea deal?
Speaker 2: And there is. Yeah. Their excuse to me was, you know,
it's really not that much time. You know, we're just
gonna give him these these heavy, heavy ones that he'll.
Speaker 1: Serve eight years for which he did not serve.
Speaker 2: Serve. No, he didn't serve I know, a year. I
don't think.
Speaker 1: Wait say that again.
Speaker 2: I don't think he served a year of that eight years, not.
Speaker 1: A not even a year of an eight year sentence.
Speaker 2: I don't think he served much time at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because then he I mean, obviously he's out and
this would have been around what at this point twenty
twenty when he went to trial, right, and.
Speaker 2: Nobody told me anything. I didn't get a phone call.
Speaker 1: Because you were because you're charging. So that's it. So
you're the charges against you got drapt or the charges
against him for what he did to you. They tossed
those out. So now you're not listed anymore as a victim.
So now they're not contacting you because there's no record
that you're connected to his his release.
Speaker 2: Correct.
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. Well, Teresa, I'm glad you're okay. He is in
prison or he's in jail now. Unfortunately, three other people
are dead.
Speaker 2: Worry about him now?
Speaker 1: Yeah three other men.
Speaker 2: My worrion days over him are gone.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well it is still the Mecklenburg County court system,
so you don't you don't know. Yeah, uh, Teresa, thanks
so much for calling. I do appreciate it.
Speaker 2: You're welcome, all right.
Speaker 1: Take care of you, Glad you're okay. There you go
like that's and for every Teresa, I'm sure there are
dozens of others just you know, hunted by these predators
that our court officials keep letting loose and our justice
quote unquote justice system keeps letting loose. I don't understand it.
I've tried to give people the benefit of the doubt.
I've tried not to ascribe motive to people that are
involved in the system that just let people walk out.
And I'm just I'm at a loss. Here's a great idea.
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memories that'll last a lifetime. Some of you did not
believe that Space Force has a song, and it does.
That is semper supra like the vehicle. That's the Space
Force theme song for you. So Happy Veterans Day to
one and all who served, and to your families as well.
I always throw the families in because it's very hard
on families, and veterans know this too. So so here's
a bit of good news, if true on the crime front.
This is a story that was at The Federalist a
couple of days ago. An exclusive. President Donald Trump is
set to a point. Dan Bishop as us a journey
for the middle District of North Carolina. Former congressman, former
state lawmaker, former Mecklenburg County commissioner, Conservative Republican. He's been
working up at the Office of Management and Budget deputy director.
A senior White House official confirmed this to The Federalist.
Bishop served as a Conservative stalwart in Congress since twenty nineteen.
He could start serving as US Attorney as early as
this week on an interim appointment while awaiting Senate confirmation.
But we'll see. Bishop was already confirmed once by the
Senate in a fifty three to forty five vote earlier
this year to take on that number two spot at OMB.
So that sounds like a party line vote, which is
unfortunate because Dan is supremely qualified for the gig. Bishop
also served on the House Judiciary Committee as well as
the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Oh,
I see, that's why Democrats didn't want to. As a lawyer,
he was a commercial litigator for nearly thirty years, receiving
accolades in legal circles like Business nc's legal Elite multiple times,
as well as being selected by super lawyers multiple times.
I don't think they say it like that. It's not
required that you say it like that. I just always
say it like that. I don't know what super lawyers are.
I guess they're just really good super Maybe. Before serving
in US Congress, Bishop served in the North Carolina State House.
He served in the Senate. He was a county commissioner.
That's actually where I met him back in the day.
He got a degree in business administration from UNC Chapel
Hill as well as his law degree there. As US attorney,
he would be in charge of all federal law enforcement
in the middle District of North Carolina. That is not Charlotte.
We are in the western district. But he may be
coming home, all right. That'll do it for this episode.
Thank you so much for listening. I could not do
the show without your support and the support of the
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You can also become a patron at my Patreon page
or go to dpecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so
much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.