A man and his cousin were sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge on Friday for orchestrating and carrying out a plot to murder a 17-year-old Hernando County girl, after she reported one of them for sexual assault.
Lenard White and Sheldon Robinson were both convicted last year of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes related to the 2023 death of Isabella Scavelli. Scavelli was shot dead in front of her mother at their home in Brookesville - a city located 50 miles north of Tampa – after she answered a late night knock on her door.
Scavelli was a student at Hernando High School, where she played tennis and participated in student government and the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. She planned to join the military after graduating, her family said in court.
U.S. District Judge William Jung imposed multiple life sentences for each man Friday, remarking on the heinousness of the crime. "I've never seen anything so bad in my entire 67 years I've been alive," Jung said.
White was Worried About Going to Prison After Scavelli Reported Him for Sexual Assault
The killing, according to prosecutors, grew out of White's concerns that he may go to prison for sexually abusing Scavelli. On Feb. 6, 2023, two days before the fatal shooting, Scavelli and her mother, La Shawn Pope, went to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office to report that "Lenard White had sexually battered her."
White had previously dated Scavelli's sister. According to the arrest affidavit, Scavelli was sexually assaulted while she was in her bedroom doing homework.
White Hired Robinson to Kill Scavelli Then Fled the State so He Would Have an Alibi
At trial, prosecutors alleged that after learning Isabella had reported him to police, White took to social media to post that he had "a cleanup job to do."
He then offered to pay Robinson, his cousin, $6,000 to carry out the killing. Robinson recruited another man, Keshawn Woods, to help him. The men together received close to $10,000 to commit the crime. White then left the state and travelled to Georgia so that he would have an alibi, prosecutors said, per the release.
Investigators Found a Discarded Shoe at Crime Scene, Linked it to Woods Who Then Agreed to Testify Against White and Robinson
Hernando County sheriff's investigators scoured the neighborhood. Near the home, they found a discarded red shoe. Forensic tests of the shoe yielded Woods' DNA. During a search of his home, authorities found $4,000 in cash, a gun and illegal drugs.
He later agreed to cooperate with investigators. He testified against Robinson and White at their trial last October. Woods was sentenced last month to 17 years in federal prison for his role in the crime.
White, 39, and Robinson, 23, caught additional charges of witness tampering and obstruction of justice after they were recorded in jail discussing plans at having Woods killed for testifying against them.
Robinson's mother, Janet Williams, was also charged after federal agents said she lied to them about finding $6,000 in cash hidden in her home. They were funds White had paid Robinson to commit the murder, prosecutors said. Williams was sentenced in 2024 to a year in prison.
