Accused Las Vegas Serial Killer Tied To PPP Loan Fraud
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Do you remember when the government was offering a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help protect jobs at the beginning of the pandemic?
Unsurprisingly the program had plenty of fraudulent applications. Gangs even got in on the funds. Well some of the people who got PPP loans, didn't pay the gang their share, and a hit was ordered on them. There are four known victims making the hitman an accused serial killer.
This is the story of how accused Las Vegas serial killer Michael Coleman is being prosecuted for four murders.
TLDR
Carl Chester, Jr. provided advice to people about how to run a PPP loan fraud scheme.
The PPP loan recipients would pay Chester a cut. When they didn't a hit was ordered.
GPS trackers were placed on cars to track targets.
Michael Coleman allegedly killed 3 people associated with the scheme and 1 who wasn't
Michael Coleman is in custody.
It All Started With A Loan Fraud Scheme
I'm piecing together how this would work based on limited information because the case is still being tried.
PPP loans were given out between April 3, 2020 and May 31, 2021. You had to use 60% of them for payroll for them to be forgiven. The average PPP loan forgiven was $72,100. Theoretically, one could:
Start a business that does nothing.
Apply for the loan.
Hire employees and pay them a combined $43,260 within 24 weeks.
 Pocket the $28,840, for a profit margin of 40% which is spectacular.
Of course everyone who receives money from it would be breaking the law. The PPP application was a not easy though (No. I wasn't trying to commit fraud, but I was curious how it worked. I didn't get approved but you had to figure out how to do it properly if you were really trying to do it).
That's where someone like Carl Chester,Jr. would come in. Once you figure out how to be approved, almost anything is easy to do over and over again.
Given the government was trying to give maximum assistance quickly, they didn't check things too hard. Carl Chester would explain how to get approved in exchange for a commission. The commission amount isn't publicly disclosed.
I'd bet the people weren't doing it fully by the book because one of the people, Shavonte Hill, got 30 months in prison for lying on the application. But we'll see when the case is over exactly how all this went down.
Some People Are Just Greedy
While most people would gladly pay a cut for helping them make extra money, some people are just greedy and didn't give Chester his cut. Tsk Tsk.
Given most of the people are at least familiar with gang behavior, they should have known that there would be consequences to pay. I mean people have killed for less. So let's look at who didn't pay.
The Hill Family
The date was November 26, 2022. William Hill Jr. was 54 years old when a man walked up to him and shot him while he was working on his car. The location was near MLK and Lake Mead Boulevard.
Both Shavonte Hill and his uncle received PPP money. The surviving members of the family believe that William Hill Jr. was shot and killed because one or both of these people did not pay Chester.
Shavonte Hill plead guilty to federal charges for lying on his PPP application and getting more than $42,000 in federal money. He's serving a 30 month sentence.
The next day someone contacted the police saying that Chester paid Coleman to have William Hill killed.
William Hill's daughter told police her uncle received $75K in government money, but did not give Chester his cut. She also told them that Demarcus Banks was involved with the murder. It's likely he was the getaway driver, but it doesn't really matter because he died while breaking into someone's house (Karma said bye bye).
Police were able to identify the car through video footage then trace the vehicle back to Michael Coleman's mom.
Other Victims
Based on my current access to information investigators obtained, I cannot solidly conclude that the other victims had PPP loans or how much they were. Once I can obtain this information I will update this section.
A Hitman Is Hired
When the people involved in the government loan fraud scheme refused to pay, Carl Chester Jr would order a hit man to go and collect or kill them. Coleman tracked his victims with GPS before committing murders. This helped him track their patterns and where they are to establish the point with the least risk and best exit strategy.
Then hitman would also take photos of the victims before performing the hit.
Hit Man Kills The Victims
Once enough information is gathered to know the best time to perform the hit, two people would go to the location. the hitman and a getaway driver. In some of the murders, the killer would walk up to the victim before shooting them, while some of them would be a drive-by shooting.
Today's surveillance state makes it hard to commit a crime without at least some video footage nearby.
The Police Investigation Begins
While reading this, it's important to understand that I am piecing this together from news reports. Michael Coleman's arrest date was May 4, 2023. That would imply that they were not able to match the DNA evidence and other information to Michael Coleman until after he killed the final victim.
The police investigation began after Benjamin McCarty, Jr. was killed on May 30, 2021 near Charleston and Interstate 11.
Through investigation detectives identified the getaway driver, Arlanders Gibson, and arrested him.
A photo on Coleman's phone showed McCarthy in the parking lot minutes before the murder. Police established Gibson and Coleman talked before killing McCarty which leads to conspiracy charges when there are multiple people involved. They were also able to retrieve surveillance video showing Gibson picking up Coleman 15 minutes before the murder occurred.Gibson later took a plea deal.
McCarty's murder has not been connected to Chester and police suspect that his murder was due to issues within their gang.
The next murder occurred on November 23, 2021 at the Teriyaki Madness on Charleston Boulevard & Town Center Drive. Marcus Larry and a Teriyaki Madness employee were shot multiple times each. Larry died, the employee lived.
Police officers towed a running car that was blocking a parking lot at Red Rock Resort.
They ran DNA from the car and the car keys. It matched Colemans, but he was not charged . Detectives also learned several people associated with Chester placed GPS trackers on Larry's car.
A week later, two people told police they thought Richardson paid Chester for Larry's murder, but that was later proven to be inaccurate when Richardson was cleared by the prosecution.
The investigation really picked up when Kidada Stewart was shot and killed outside of her home on February 27, 2023 near Fort Apache Road and Mountains Edge Way.
Video footage caught a vehicle from the previous murders parked waiting for Stewart to get home, then a person firing multiple shots at her once she pulled up.
12 hours later the car was pulled over by an Arizona trooper who gave Michael Coleman a warning. This directly tied Coleman to the getaway vehicle.
On March 2, 2023, police pulled the vehicle over while a woman was driving it. After getting a search warrant, the detectives searched the car the next day. They found a ghost gun, which would later be tied to Marcus Larry's murder through ballistics testing.
On May 4, 2023 police went to arrest Michael Coleman. He barricaded himself in his home was arrested for the murder of Kidada Stewart. There were two reported barricades that day in Las Vegas metropolitan area, but given the locations of the crimes, I suspect it was this one.
Once he was arrested the police were able to interview him, and get warrants for DNA and his cell phone.
The cell phone had multiple emails connected to it and a discussion about William Hill and his brother (which confirm's what William Hill's daughter had told police) including discussions about watching the home to be cautious.
Accused Las Vegas Serial Killer Michael Coleman's Court Case
Michael Coleman has two court cases in Clark County, Nevada. The first is regarding Kidada Stewart. It is set for jury trial on December 1, 2025. The charges are:
Murder, 1st Degree E/DW
2 Counts of Discharging a Gun At/Into Occupied Structure/Vehicle/Craft
2 Counts of Ownership/Possession of a Gun by Prohibited Person.
This case has a $250K bail set that has not been paid so Michael Coleman remains incarcerated, but he cannot be bailed out because the other case denied bail.
The second case involves the other three deaths and includes the following charges.
These charges are currently pending the status of the first case.
3 Counts of Conspiracy to Commit Murder
3 Counts of Open Murder E/DW
Burglary While Possession of Gun/DW
Attempted Murder E/DW
Ownership/Possession of Gun by Prohibited Person
This case has denied bail.
Conclusion
While it's still being resolved whether Michael Coleman will become a convicted killer for the four victims found lying in the street, investigators appear to have put together a fairly clear case about the murderous rampage over money owed to a gang. We'll update this blog as there is more information.
Should I go to the trial to get as much information as possible?
