Gang member pleads guilty to six violent crimes

By Linda Cicoira

An admitted member of the Makk Balla Family street gang pleaded guilty Tuesday in Accomack Circuit Court to six violent crimes connected to a revenge drive-by shooting.

The defendant was 23-year-old Zyshon Riakeem Bell, also known as Problem, who has lived in Greenbush and Temperanceville, and whose last address was in Princess Anne, Md. He admitted to shooting at a house on A.S. West Road near Painter that was occupied by five people, shooting from a vehicle, attempting to maliciously wound Cheryl and Dale Smith, use of a firearm, and actively participating in a street gang.

The drive-by shooting occurred in June of 2023. Bell was arrested a year later. In an agreement with Commonwealth’s Attorney Spencer Morgan, eight other charges were not prosecuted against Bell in exchange for the guilty pleas. The deal also called for Bell to be sentenced to between eight and 18 years in prison. A short-form presentence report was ordered. Sentencing was set for July 10.

The Balla street gang was reportedly started in 2001 in New York by nearly 60 former members of the Brins gang, who were part of the early history of the Bloods.

Prosecutor Morgan said the Smiths’ three grandchildren were in the dwelling when the shooting occurred at around 1 a.m. Cheryl Smith is the mother of Julian Travis Scarborough, who was sentenced in December to more than 108 years in prison for the 2020 murder of a local couple, concealing and defiling their bodies, and other felonies. Scarborough was arrested for the crimes in April 2021.

Morgan said the motive in the drive-by was the murder of Scarborough’s victims, 36-year-old Princeton Howard Bragg and 38-year-old Lolita Monique Boggs, also of the Painter area. Bragg was alleged to be Scarborough’s drug dealer. The couple had a total of 17 children and were expecting another when they were killed.

Their bodies were found in their car in secluded woods near Doughty Farm Road, not far from Scarborough’s home in the Linhaven area of Painter. Both had been shot numerous times. It was concluded that the couple was killed elsewhere because there were no riddled windows or damage to the car. Scarborough was also indicted on a count of first-degree murder of the couple’s unborn child. That charge was not prosecuted. The death was not mentioned during the trial, but was part of the autopsy report that was given to the jury.

According to testimony at the trial, Scarborough, who was a police informant, told the head of the Eastern Shore Drug Task Force that he was angry when Bragg ignored his request for cocaine and had previously made him wait for about five hours before making a delivery.

Scarborough didn’t know that investigators installed a camera near Bragg’s house on Coal Kiln Road. Scarborough was caught on video surveillance kicking in the couple’s door after the two disappeared. He said he broke into the house to steal Bragg’s stash.

Outside the drive-by, officers found 35 shell casings in the street in front of the Smith’s home and bullet holes in the kitchen, refrigerator, two bedrooms, and a TV. Morgan said the shell casings came from six firearms believed to have been shot from two cars that were seen on a neighborhood surveillance video.

A partial license plate was linked to Bell’s car. His cell phone also pinged in the area around the time of the shooting. A casing that was found at the scene matched a gun Bell had before and after the shooting, and had Bell’s DNA on it, Morgan said.

Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. found Bell guilty. He also presided over Scarborough’s trial and noted at his sentencing that he came from married working parents and a stable environment.

Three other men were also charged with the drive-by crimes and have not yet been to trial.