A Michigan nephew and four others were convicted of abducting and ruthlessly beating his uncle — then leaving him tied up next to his burning truck — in a plot to steal $100,000 he received for helping a seemingly blind influencer.
Roland Chatmon, 37, pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy and federal gun charges related to the September 2025 attack on his uncle Curtis Dixon, federal prosecutors in Detroit announced Wednesday.
Leica Lopez Martinez, 33, Ieasha Stroman, 38, and Dneiqua Stroman, 43, face the same charges while Kenneth Anderson, 54, previously pleaded guilty to money laundering for his role, prosecutors said.
Investigators found the conspiracy began in August 2025 when Dixon went viral for offering to help Zach Dereniowski, a TikTok star known as MDMotivator with more than 28 million followers, who was pretending to be blind for a video.
Dixon — who was suffering from financial woes at the time and was planning to pawn his wedding ring — received $1,000 from the influencer for his good deed.
