Man convicted in 2010 shooting death of Boston teen pleads guilty to gun, drug charges

BOSTON — A Haverhill man with “multiple” prior felony convictions, including manslaughter after the 2010 shooting death of a 14-year-old boy in Jamaica Plain, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to gun and drug charges stemming from a 2021 traffic stop in West Bridgewater, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Ramon Silvelo-Miles, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl, and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

U.S. District Court Judge Dennis F. Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for May 9. Silvelo-Miles was charged by criminal complaint in January 2022.

In 2014, Silvelo-Miles, then 24, was among two men sentenced for their roles in the fatal shooting death of Jaewon Martin, 14, on a Bromley-Heath basketball court in Jamaica Plain on May 8, 2010, the district attorney’s office said at the time. A 16-year-old boy was also wounded in the attack.

Silvelo-Miles was sentenced to nine to 10 years in state prison followed by three years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the fatal shooting of the teen.

Another man, Timothy Hearns, then 24, who admitted to shooting Martin, was sentenced to a total of 31 to 32 years in state prison, followed by five years of probation after pleading pleaded guilty to manslaughter, the district attorney’s office earlier said.

Both men, who were members of the Roxbury-based H-Block gang at the time of the shooting, also pleaded guilty in 2014 to three counts of armed assault with intent to murder and related offenses for firing at three other teens at the basketball court near the Bromley Heath housing development.

Martin, of Roxbury, was an honor student who was not in a gang, and had stopped to play basketball for a short time when he was gunned down, according to prosecutors and reports at the time.

It was unclear Wednesday why Silvelo-Miles was out of prison in 2021, when he was stopped by West Bridgewater police officers while driving impaired on Route 24 in that town, which led to his latest drug and gun charges.

In 2014, following his sentencing in the shooting death of Martin, prosecutors said that if Silvelo-Miles reoffends during that time, or if he associates with any H-Block gang members, he faces “faces up to 80 additional years in prison if he violates them.”

In the early morning of Sept. 20, 2021, Silvelo-Miles was stopped by law enforcement for driving erratically on Route 24 in West Bridgewater, authorities said.

Field sobriety tests administered at the scene found that Silvelo-Miles was too impaired to drive, authorities said. A subsequent search of his car revealed over 200 grams of cocaine and 9 grams of fentanyl packaged in small, clear plastic bags in a small backpack inside the glove compartment.

Also hidden by Silvelo-Miles next to a backpack in the glove compartment was a Raven Arms MP-25 .25 caliber pistol within a black sock, authorities said. The gun was loaded with one bullet in the chamber and five bullets in the magazine.

Silvelo-Miles is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to multiple prior felony convictions including his 2014 conviction for manslaughter, authorities said.

The charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million.

The charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime provides for a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison, up to life, which must be served consecutively with any other term of imprisonment imposed in the case, five years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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