A third teenager has been charged with the shooting death of District school principal Brian Betts in what authorities are calling a robbery-murder set up through online and phone sex chats.
Dontra Q. Gray, 18, of Oxon Hill, is accused of first-degree murder, armed robbery and conspiracy. Montgomery County County police said Gray and two other teens got themselves invited to Betts’ Silver Spring home after a brief chat through Adam4Adam, a Web site catering to gay men seeking romance. Betts’ body was found April 15 after the 42-year-old didn’t show up to work at the Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson. He had been shot in the back, but there was no sign of forced entry.
Authorities say Gray admitted to having been in Betts’ home and that he stole items from Betts’ sports utility vehicle.
Sharif “Reef” Lancaster and Alante Saunders, both 18, were charged Monday with Betts’ murder.
At a hearing Tuesday afternoon in Rockville, all three teens were ordered held without bond.
Lancaster’s mother has been charged with using Betts’ stolen credit cards at a Giant supermarket the day after Betts’ body was found.
All three murder suspects were supposed to have been monitored by the District’s juvenile justice agency when Betts was killed, sources said and records show.
Gray, whose most recent arrest had been a Jan. 15 unlawful entry charge, had twice been named as a “fugitive from justice,” court records show.
So far this year, at least six different youths — all formally placed in the custody of the District’s juvenile agency — have been charged with murder. Two others have themselves been killed.
Attorney General Peter Nickles has promised a review of the foundering agency in the wake of Betts’ killing.
