DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Southern District of Ohio

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Vipal J. Patel (Acting)
, United States Attorney
Contact: Jennifer Thornton

Two Cincinnati Men Charged Federally With 2015 Cold-Case Murder

CINCINNATI – A federal grand jury has charged two Cincinnati men with using a firearm to commit a murder during the commission of a crime of violence. 

Jordan Wimberly, 32, and Ryan Carter, 28, allegedly killed Lerois Harris during a robbery on January 29, 2015.

Wimberly was transferred into federal custody from state incarceration on March 12, 2021; on March 18, 2021, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie K. Bowman ordered him detained pending trial. Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Cincinnati Police officers arrested Carter yesterday. He appeared in federal court at 1:30pm today, and his case was unsealed at that time. 

A conviction for killing someone with a firearm during a crime of violence carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and is punishable by up to life in prison or the death penalty.

Vipal J. Patel, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Roland Herndon, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorneys Ashley N. Brucato and Julie D. Garcia are representing the United States in this case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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Columbus Field Division