ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ/US Attorney’s Office) – A Roanoke man has pleaded guilty to robbing, shooting and killing his drug supplier, then burning the body to conceal his crimes.
In federal court Thursday, Joseph Richard Walker, 30, pleaded to one count of Hobbs Act Robbery and one count of possessing, brandishing and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and a crime of violence, according to the US Attorney’s Office. He faces up to 35 years in prison.
A second man, Garrett Isaac Williams, has been indicted on related charges and is pending trial.
According to court documents, beginning no later than January 2023, Walker and Williams conspired to distribute marijuana, according to prosecutors. Their source of supply was Ethan Bert, otherwise known as E.B., who lived in Pennsylvania. E.B. often traveled from Pennsylvania to Roanoke to meet Walker and Williams to conduct marijuana sales. often at Walker’s Roanoke home.
Eventually, in an effort to collect money that he was owed, E.B. inadvertently called Walker’s mother, according to prosecutors. This phone call led Walker and Williams to plan to end their relationship with E.B. But instead of paying E.B. the money he was owed, they planned to order more marijuana from E.B. and rob him, and in so doing, scare him from returning to Virginia.
April 17, 2023, court documents indicate E.B. traveled from Pennsylvania to Walker’s residence, bringing with him approximately 10 pounds of marijuana and two pounds of marijuana wax. Before E.B. got there, Walker concealed a Sig Sauer .45 caliber pistol on himself, intending to use it as part of the robbery. Upon E.B.’s arrival, Walker confronted E.B. about the phone call E.B. made to his mother, then shot and killed E.B.
Walker then dragged E.B.’s body out of his home, placed it in the truck of his car and drove to Bedford County, where he set it on fire, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Before he left his home in E.B.’s car, Walker took the marijuana E.B. had brought with him.
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