By JASON LAUGHLIN
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
A grand jury here indicted 10 men Wednesday in nine unrelated murders that occurred last year, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced.
Among those indicted is David Mendez, 36, a cousin of former Camden Mayor Milton Milan. Mendez, who was extradited from Brooklyn, N.Y., to stand trial in New Jersey, is accused of fatally shooting Luis Ocasio, 24. The Camden man was killed in February 2001.
Authorities also believe Mendez may have information about the unsolved 1988 killing of Francisco "Pancho" Chamorro. Milan was questioned about the murder, which occurred before he was elected to public office, but wasn't charged in the slaying. Milan, now in federal prison on unrelated corruption charges, has repeatedly denied any involvement.
Also indicted on murder charges Wednesday:
•Nelson Perez, 18, of Camden. He's accused of killing a 16-year-old Camden High School student, Lamont T. Green, whom authorities said was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Green was not Perez's intended target when he was killed in August 2001, they said.
•Michael Vandenberg, 35, of Clementon. He's charged in the beating and stabbing death of his father, Hendrik Vandenberg, 77, of Clementon, in March 2001.
•Jaire Highsmith, 24, of Gloucester Township. Authorities said he fatally stabbed Steven Goebel, 30, in the victim's Gloucester Township apartment.
•Kevin Douglas Cooke, 30, of Camden. He's charged in the July 2001 shooting of Corey Smith, 28, of Camden.
•Zaire R. Evans, 24, of Cherry Hill. Police said he shot William Quinnones, 23, of Camden, in May 2001 and left him to die on the ground beside the victim's car in Camden.
•Shadeed Abdur-Raheem, 41, of Camden. He's accused of strangling a Camden woman, 62-year-old Lois Smith, in August 2001. Abdur-Raheem had been a live-in caregiver for Smith for about a month before killing her at the victim's Mount Ephraim Avenue home, authorities said.
•Samuel J. Tolbert, 21, of Atco. He is accused in the beating death of Ladislaus P. Feyt, 53, of Atco. Authorities found Feyt's body in April 2001 behind Chesilhurst Liquor Store.
•Kenyatta Mickey, 21, of Camden. Police charged him in the shooting death of Robert Farrington, 24, of Camden, in June 2001.
•Shawn Quann, 23, of Camden, also was indicted in Farrington's slaying.
