Roland Chatmon

Introduction

Roland Chatmon, a 37-year-old Detroit man, pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy and federal firearms offenses for abducting, beating and robbing his own uncle, Curtis Dixon — whose life had changed weeks earlier when a viral act of kindness earned him more than $100,000, a new truck and other gifts. Federal prosecutors in Detroit announced the plea on November 4, 2026, alongside guilty pleas from three co-conspirators, Leica Lopez Martinez, Ieasha Stroman and Dneiqua Stroman, while a fifth participant, Kenneth Anderson, had earlier pleaded guilty to money laundering. Chatmon faces a mandatory minimum of seven years in federal prison and a maximum of life.

Background Information

In late August 2025, Dixon — a Southwest Detroit man in such dire financial straits that he was planning to pawn his wedding ring to pay a utility bill — stopped to help a stranger who appeared to be blind. The stranger was TikTok star Zach Dereniowski, known as MDMotivator to more than 28 million followers, who staged kindness videos and called Dixon the “first kind person to help him.” The clip went viral; Dereniowski gave Dixon $1,000, launched a GoFundMe that quickly passed $100,000, and Dixon received a new GMC Denali plus gifts including $5,000 from Dereniowski and $2,500 from American Jewelry and Loan — all highly publicized. Chatmon, whose mother is the sister of Dixon’s wife, was struggling financially himself, and according to court filings he knew exactly what his uncle had come into.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Pleaded guilty. Roland Chatmon admitted in federal court to kidnapping conspiracy and firearms offenses for the September 1, 2025 abduction, beating and robbery of his uncle Curtis Dixon, whose $100,000 viral windfall was the target. Three co-conspirators pleaded guilty with him; all four face at least seven years and up to life in federal prison.

According to court filings and the defendants’ plea-hearing admissions, the conspiracy began on recorded jailhouse calls: on August 24, 2025, Chatmon told his incarcerated brother about his uncle’s windfall — “100 racks,” a new car and a house — and the two laughed as they hatched the plan to take it, the brother remarking, “Twin it’s time to come out of retirement baby.” In earlier calls Chatmon had complained he was broke and “need[ed] some racks real quick.” Chatmon then recruited three women to help carry it out.

On September 1, 2025, the crew put the plan in motion: Lopez Martinez approached Dixon near his apartment pretending her car had broken down and got him to give her a ride, while Chatmon directed his uncle by cell phone. When Dixon parked in the area of Filer Avenue on Detroit’s east side, the group ambushed him at gunpoint — an attacker ordered “open my door,” bound his hands and feet, put a shirt over his head, and hog-tied him in the back of his own GMC Denali, demanding money or “they would kill his wife.” The conspirators drove him around to ATM withdrawals while repeatedly pistol-whipping and beating him, then — with Dixon still tied in the truck — Chatmon and Dneiqua Stroman broke into his house, stole his safe, and tied up Dixon’s wife, Chatmon’s aunt, leaving her in a bathtub. They dumped Dixon on the ground next to his truck and set the vehicle on fire; witnesses pulled him from inside the burning SUV. Afterwards, on another recorded jail call, Chatmon told his brother, “They done got the old YN man … They caught [him] with his pants down,” and met up with Anderson, who helped move money from Dixon’s Cash App account into the conspirators’ own. Cellular data and gas-station, bank and ATM surveillance led investigators to the crew; on September 25, 2025, the ATF executed search warrants at five residences in Detroit, Rochester Hills and Pontiac and arrested them all.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Dixon told Detroit’s WXYZ the betrayal cut deeper than the beating: “When I found out it was family, I was so hurt. I couldn’t believe it. Because I expected somebody on the streets to do it to me before a family member would.” He described his nephew phoning him days after the attack to ask, “Unc, do you know who did it?” — and said ATF agents later showed him surveillance photos until he fell to his knees recognizing his own nephew. He said he has not recovered all of the donated money and has struggled to find housing since, but with the pleas secured he is resting easier: “I’d rather be broke and happy, any day. I’d rather be broke and happy than rich and have to look over my shoulder.” The case drew national coverage precisely because of its shape — a man rewarded for kindness, ambushed by the family that watched him get rewarded.

Current Status

Chatmon, Lopez Martinez, Ieasha Stroman and Dneiqua Stroman have all pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy and federal firearms offenses; with the pleas, each faces a mandatory minimum seven years in federal prison and a maximum of life, with sentencing scheduled for early 2027. Anderson, who pleaded guilty earlier to money laundering for moving the Cash App money, was already sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution. The case was investigated by the ATF and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew R. Picek and Diane N. Princ for the Eastern District of Michigan. Dixon, still short of full recovery of his money, told WXYZ he is counting his blessings that he survived.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Chatmon’s plea converts a family betrayal into a federal kidnapping conviction with a seven-year floor and a life ceiling, and leaves him a convicted felon awaiting sentencing alongside three co-conspirators who admitted the same plot. For Dixon, the arc runs from overnight celebrity to hospital to bankruptcy of trust: the windfall that marked him as a target is largely gone, the wedding ring he nearly pawned became a symbol of how close he was to nothing, and the relatives he now knows designed his ambush were the ones who called him afterwards asking who did it. The case has become a widely-cited example of how a publicized windfall can mark its recipient, and of prosecutors using defendants’ own recorded jailhouse calls to close the net.

Sources

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan, “Five Defendants Convicted in Kidnapping Conspiracy Targeting Family Member,” November 4, 2026. source
The New York Post, “Michigan nephew, 4 others convicted for abducting, beating uncle Curtis Dixon who was gifted $100K in viral video,” November 6, 2026. source
WXYZ Detroit, “Five convicted in Detroit kidnapping targeting viral good Samaritan,” November 5, 2026. source
FOX 2 Detroit, “Kidnapping conspiracy: Family plotted abduction of Detroit man in viral $100K gift video,” November 2025. source
CBS News Detroit, “Five people plead guilty in plot to kidnap, rob Detroit man featured in viral video,” November 4, 2026. source