HOUSTON – The last man being sought in connection with charges related to a nearly fatal attack on a judge in Austin last year was arrested Monday night in New Orleans, according to federal authorities.
According to federal prosecutors, 28-year-old Chimene Hamilton Onyeri, 26-year-old Marcellus Antoine Burgin and 24-year-old Rasul Kareem Scott ran various financial schemes from January 2012 to November 2015.
Prosecutors said the trio used card skimmers that they installed at ATMs, restaurants and stores to steal credit card and debit card information from customers. They took the skimmed data, applied it to other cards and used those cards to drain bank accounts, prosecutors said.
The men also bribed bank employees to create false accounts that allowed them to access the stolen money, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that when Onyeri believed that State District Court Judge Julie Kocurek was going to sentence him to prison, the group hatched a plot to kill her. On Nov. 6, 2015, Kocurek was shot several times while she sat in her car outside her Austin home. She suffered serious injuries but survived the attack.
All three men were charged with conspiracy to participate in an enterprise engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Onyeri was also charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, a second count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.
Onyeri was arrested in May on charges connected to the death of 29-year-old Jacobi Alexander at an apartment complex in the 6700 block of Westbranch Falls. He was still in state custody.
Scott was arrested Thursday in New Orleans. He was being held in federal custody.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that Burgin was the subject of a chase through Houston on Thursday night. The chase ended in west Houston, at the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Westhollow Drive, but Burgin escaped, officials said.
On Tuesday, federal authorities said that Burgin was arrested in New Orleans without incident.