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Curtis Dixon kidnapping plot drew guilty pleas from five defendants

Prosecutors said the group went after money and gifts Detroit resident Curtis Dixon received on YouTube after widely shared footage showed him helping someone in need.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said on November 4, 2026 that Roland Chatmon, Leica Lopez Martinez, Ieasha Stroman and Dneiqua Stroman pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy and federal firearms offenses in a scheme aimed at Curtis Dixon. Kenneth Anderson had already pleaded guilty to money laundering for his role. Weeks earlier, Dixon had received more than $100,000, a GMC Yukon Denali and other gifts from YouTuber Zach Dereniowski, who posts as MDMotivator; prosecutors said the publicity around those gifts drew Roland Chatmon’s attention.

According to prosecutors, Chatmon is Dixon’s nephew and organized the plot after learning what Dixon had received. On September 1, 2025, one conspirator allegedly asked Dixon for a ride as a ruse, and once Dixon stopped in Detroit the group carjacked him at gunpoint, tied him and drove him from place to place trying to drain his bank accounts. They then took him home, where they allegedly stole a safe and restrained Dixon’s wife before leaving Dixon beside his truck while they set it ablaze.

Prosecutors said Anderson later helped move money out of Dixon’s Cash App account into accounts the group controlled. The four kidnapping defendants each face a mandatory minimum of seven years in federal prison and up to life at sentencing. Anderson was already sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution. Sentencing for the others runs from February 3 through March 15, 2027.