$1M bond set for suspect in slaying of gym owner

Deitrekk Boone, 20, appears in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. Sought for nearly a year, he was arrested in Houston in December for the shooting death of gym owner Joseph Lengel.

He eluded police for nearly a year, but on Thursday, a Toledo man whom police tracked down in Houston was arraigned in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on charges stemming from the robbery and shooting death of a South Toledo gym owner.

Deitrekk Boone, 20, of 1416 Beecham St. pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in the Nov. 19, 2012, slaying of Joseph Lengel, 57, owner of CrossFit Intensity Gym.

Judge James Bates appointed attorney Drew Griffith to defend Mr. Boone and scheduled a trial for April 22.

Louis Kountouris, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, asked the court to set “a substantial cash bond” for Mr. Boone, who he said had been arrested in Houston where he was living with an assumed name.

“We feel he is a substantial flight risk,” Mr Kountouris said.

Judge Bates set bond at $1 million.

Mr. Boone disappeared in December, 2012, shortly after he and four others were indicted by a Lucas County grand jury in the death of Mr. Lengel. In the ensuing year, all four of his co-defendants entered into plea agreements with the prosecutor’s office and were sentenced for their roles in what they described as a botched robbery.

Two men who planned but did not take part in the attack — Matthew Managhan, 34, of 3417 Anderson Pkwy., and Chad D. Brown, 35, of 839 Walbridge Ave. — each pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery and were sentenced to 15 years in prison.

They admitted to recruiting others to rob an individual they believed would be carrying drugs and money in the vicinity of Warehouse Road, where the gym was located. Instead, the wrong man was accosted, robbed of an iPad, and ultimately shot to death.

Two of the three men who prosecutors said carried out the botched plot also are in prison.

Jason Kuhns, 32, of 1416 Beecham St., pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 15 years.

Devonte Harris, 19, of 1326 Gordon St., pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years.

Mr. Boone, who prosecutors allege took part in the robbery armed with a gun, was arrested by Houston police Dec. 4 at a Golden Corral restaurant. He’d had a prior run-in with police there during which officers used a portable fingerprint device on him. They later learned he was wanted for murder in Toledo.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.