Son of Sweetie Pie’s owner charged in murder-for-hire case, authorities say

ST. LOUIS — The son of Sweetie Pie's owner Robbie Montgomery, star of the OWN reality series "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's," has been charged in connection with a murder-for-hire case, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, authorities arrested James Timothy Norman, 41, on Tuesday in Jackson, Mississippi, on a charge of "conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire resulting in death," the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Missouri announced in a news release.

Exotic dancer Terica Ellis, of Memphis, Tennessee, was charged with the same crime, the release said.

The federal complaint alleges that Norman conspired with Ellis and other people in a murder-for-hire scheme targeting Norman's nephew, 18-year-old Andre Montgomery, who was shot and killed in March 2016. Norman had obtained a $450,000 life insurance policy on Andre Montgomery two years earlier, authorities said.

According to the complaint, Ellis contacted Andre Montgomery days before his death to say she would be in St. Louis.

“On March 13, 2016, the day before [Andre] Montgomery’s murder, Norman flew to St. Louis, Missouri, from his home in Los Angeles, California,” the news release read. “On March 14, 2016, Ellis and Norman communicated using temporary phones activated that day. Ellis also used the temporary phone to communicate with Montgomery and learn his physical location. Immediately after learning Montgomery’s location, Ellis placed a call to Norman.”

Shortly after 8 p.m. March 14, 2016, Andre Montgomery was shot dead on Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis, authorities said.

“Ellis’s phone location information places her in the vicinity of the murder at time of the homicide,” the news release said.

After the shooting, Ellis called Norman and headed to Memphis, authorities said. She also "deposited over $9,000 in cash into various bank accounts," according to the news release.

Seven days after Andre Montgomery's death, Norman tried to collect on the life insurance policy, authorities said.

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Cox Media Group