Three men charged in plot to misplace blame for murders

St. Clair County prosecutors say three men, including one charged in a double murder, hatched a plot to blame the murders on a prisoner who won’t be eligible for parole for at least 42 years.

According to criminal complaints filed Monday, Randy L. McCallum Jr., Dominic R. Hood and Anthony T. Moore Jr., were charged with obstruction of justice. McCallum Jr., and Moore also are charged with forgery.

“The investigation is ongoing,” St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly said. He declined further comment because the matter is now before a judge.

According to the criminal complaints, McCallum Jr., 25, and Moore Jr., 23, provided false information in the form of an affidavit to McCallum Jr.’s, attorney, Rick Roustio of Belleville.

McCallum Jr. currently is in the St. Clair County Jail facing a second trial for murder in the deaths of Kevin McVay and Charles D. Black of Washington Park. Moore Jr. is in the Menard Correctional Center serving a sentence for attempted murder in an unrelated case. He was not in prison at the time McVay and Black were killed in 2008.

The affidavit, which was signed by Moore, stated that it was Moore who killed the two men. According to the criminal complaint, the affidavit was delivered to Rustio by McCallum Jr.’s father, former Alorton Mayor Randy “Rambo” McCallum Sr., who recently served a short sentence in federal prison for corruption. He could not be reached for comment.

The third man named in the criminal charges, Hood, 20, also allegedly told Illinois State Police Sgt. Chris Hoffstot, that it was Moore who killed McVay and Black.

But Roustio said that after he received the affidavit, he questioned the Menard inmate. “He told me he did it,” Roustio said. As part of the discovery in the upcoming second murder trial of McCallum Jr., Roustio turned the affidavit over to prosecutors in preparation for an Aug. 24 trial.

“All I know is what Anthony Moore told me,” Roustio said. “He knew a lot of details that led me to believe that he had to be there.”

Moore is set for parole in 2041 from Menard. Afterward, he will be faced with a 20-year federal sentence for robbing a UPS delivery truck. He must serve 16 additional years on that charge, according to court records.

Roustio said he believed police and prosecutors listened to recorded phone calls McCallum Jr., Moore and Hood, who is serving a sentence for rape, made to relatives and friends.

Roustio said prosecutors are now trying to have him disqualified from the second murder trial of McCallum Jr., because he will be called as a witness in these latest charges.

McVay and Black were shot to death in Washington Park on Sept. 18, 2008. The two were longtime friends.

During McCallum’s first trial in 2009 for their murders, which ended in a mistrial, prosecutors played a 911 tape where Black can be heard identifying McCallum Jr. as the shooter. Gunshots can be heard on the tape.

But after one juror did not agree to a guilty verdict, a mistrial was declared by St. Clair County Circuit Judge John Baricevic.

McCallum Jr., remains in the St. Clair County Jail on $2 million bail.

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Three men charged in plot to misplace blame for murders."