Fort Myers man sentenced to 35 years for deadly robbery plot

A Fort Myers man was sentenced Friday morning to 35 years in prison for a 2018 plot to lure and rob a victim who ended up dead in a hospital.

Taquan Ramel Brown, 32, was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison after being found guilty at trial in February. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter, 15 for robbery and 5 for conspiracy. The sentences will run consecutively.

The crime happened on Sunday, May 13, 2018. Just after 2 a.m., Fort Myers police officers arrived at the scene of a shooting off Marsh Avenue. A victim, who had been beaten and shot, was lying in the street. He died less than an hour later at a nearby hospital.

Detectives with the Fort Myers Police Department found evidence of a conspiracy to target the victim and lure him to that location so he could be robbed. The victim had $60 stolen from him before being murdered. He had a friend with him at the time of the robbery who was shot at, but he was able to run away and get help. The U.S. Marshals Task Force and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office assisted in this case as search warrants were served.

Three co-defendants, Mario Joel Benitez, Edey Emmanuel Cardenas, and Cheyenne Nicole Marron, have already been sentenced for their roles in the crime.