Roanoke Man Pleads Guilty To Killing His Pennsylvania Drug Supplier

Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 10:00 A.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

ROANOKE, VA.- Last Thursday, a 30-year-old Roanoke, Virginia, man learned he would be a senior citizen when he is finally released from federal prison after pleading guilty to charges in connection with shooting his Pennsylvania marijuana supplier to death and then burning his body in hopes of evading arrest.

     On Thursday, January 16, 2025, Joseph Richard Walker, 30, of Roanoke, Virginia, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia and pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act Robbery; and one count of Possessing, Brandishing, and Discharging a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime. 

When Sentenced Walker Faces Up To 35 Years In Prison

     When sentenced, Walker faces up to 35 years in federal prison. A second man and Walker’s co-defendant, Garrett Isaac Williams, has been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on related charges and is awaiting trial.

     “The Department of Justice has no greater mission than to hold accountable those individuals who commit violence in our communities,” Acting U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Lee said on Thursday. “Our strong partnerships with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are critical in bringing about successful prosecutions of our most violent criminals. The Department will continue to fight against gun violence through important prosecutions like this one and in conjunction with programs such as Project Safe Neighborhoods.”

According To Charging Information

     According to charging documents filed with the District Court, beginning in and around January 2023, Walker and Williams conspired to distribute marijuana. The source for the supply of marijuana was E.B. an individual who lived in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. E.B. often made trips from Pennsylvania to Roanoke, Virginia to meet Walker and Williams to conduct Marijuana transactions. Many of these transactions took place a Walker’s Roanoke residence.

     Eventually, after Walker and Williams failed to pay E.B. for a transaction, E.B. called Walker’s mother. This phone call set in motion a plan by Walker and Williams to end their relationship with E.B. However, instead of paying E.B. the money owed, Walker and Williams ordered more marijuana, and when E.B. arrived to deliver the marijuana, the two would rob him and scare him from returning to Virginia.

     On April 17, 2023, E.B. traveled from Pennsylvania to Walker’s Roanoke residence bringing around 10 pounds of marijuana and two pounds of marijuana wax. Prior to E.B.’s arrival, Walker had concealed a .45-caliber handgun on his person and had intended to use it in the commission of the robbery.

     Upon E.B.’s arrival, Walker confronted E.B. about the phone call he had made to his mother before ultimately pulling the handgun out, firing two shots, and killing E.B. To hide the killing, Walker dragged E.B.’s body out of his home, placed in the trunk of his car and drove to Bedford County, Virginia where he set it on fire. Before departing his home, Walker took the marijuana that E.B. brought with him.