Alleged Latin King member charged with 2 killings in 1999

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) - A federal prosecutor says an alleged member of the Latin Kings gang has been indicted for the 1999 slayings of two men in Hammond.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch said Friday that 37-year-old Jeremiah Shane Farmer of Hammond is accused of fatally beating 74-year-old Marion Lowry and 67-year-old Harvey Siegers with a small sledge hammer at Calumet Auto Rebuilders on June 25, 1999.

Farmer was charged in the slayings in 2001, but the charges were dismissed after Kirsch said critical witnesses recanted to police after threats by another alleged Latin Kings member, 39-year-old Mark Anthony Toney of Lake Village, and others. Kirsch says Toney also was indicted.

Kirsch says both Farmer and Toney are in custody facing charges of engaging in conspiracies to commit racketeering activity that included distribution of drugs.