Six people who were charged with the November 2013 robbery and murder of Anthony Giles have been cleared, according to documents on file at the Lee County Courthouse.
Murder and kidnapping charges against Wilbert Bruton, Phillip Fortune, Akil McAden, Jessica McCoy, Franklin Dorsett, and Travis McLean were dismissed on Jan. 26.
Bruton, Fortune, McAden, McCoy, Dorsett, and McLean were charged in January 2014 with the murder of Anthony Giles at his home on Hickory Nut Court in southern Lee County. Sheriff’s deputies said an armed man came into the home during the night and tied up Giles before taking money and fatally shooting him.
Nearly a year after the initial six suspects were arrested, deputies arrested four Wilmington area men in connection with the robbery and murder. Deputies at the time didn’t comment on whether the new suspects had any connection to the initial suspects, and told the Sanford Herald that the case was “still being actively investigated.”
It’s currently unknown why the charges were dismissed against the original six suspects.
One of the six initial suspects, Phillip Fortune, still faces murder charges connected to a separate killing in 2013. Another one of the initial suspects, Wilbert Bruton, was the subject of the Rant’s first piece in January 2014.
1. They did not come into the home “in the middle of the night”. 2. They did not “tie[d] up Giles before taking money and fatally shooting him”. 3. Maybe these 6 people should be more discerning about who their “friends” are.