Murder hearing as part of “road robbery” investigation.

NEW ORLEANS – A man accused of killing a federal witness in the massive case that uncovered millions of dollars in fraudulent insurance payments from staged truck accidents was ordered held without bail after a dramatic court hearing Friday.

Federal Judge Michael North ordered Ryan Harris jailed after an FBI agent testified about evidence linking the defendant and his girlfriend Jovanna Gardner to the 2020 murder of Cornelius Garrison.

Harris, 35, and Gardner, 39, were charged May 3 with witness tampering by murder in the fatal shooting of Garrison, an accused fellow con man who was shot by gunfire as he left his Gentilly apartment.

Harris and Gardner, who have a 4-year-old child together, were also charged with mail and wire fraud for their alleged involvement in some of the dozens of staged encounters and bogus lawsuits.

Friday’s detention hearing resembled a mini-trial, with FBI agent Chauncy Bradley revealing text messages, tracking of “burner” cell phones, surveillance video from a Dollar General store and, ultimately, the deadly ruse that tricked Garrison into to open its door September 22, 2020.

The agent testified that Garrison was shot 10 times, with a trail of shell casings extending from his front porch to his front living room. When the shooting began, Garrison’s final words were to his mother, who was in another room: “Get down.”

The agent said a pair of inexpensive disposable “burner” phones linked Harris and Gardner to the murder. Gardner, posing as a woman named “Kim,” allegedly lured Garrison into meeting her through a series of text messages the night he was shot, Bradley testified.

“I will come around 8:30 a.m.,” she wrote, according to the agent.

But Gardner was in New Orleans East at the time, while Harris’ phone pinged the block where Garrison lived on Foy Street at exactly the same time. Just after 8:30 a.m., a 9-1-1 call came in saying Garrison had been shot, Bradley said.

Bradley presented photos from a Dollar General store that showed Harris with Gardner on the same day her phone was purchased at the store.

Harris’ attorney, Christopher Murell, argued that the circumstantial evidence was outweighed by his client’s standing in the community as a father, provider, business owner and lifelong resident with no criminal record. A large group of Harris’ family and friends filled the courtroom Friday to show their support. Some of them sobbed as North ordered Harris held without bail.

Murell described the government’s evidence as unconvincing and that he was preparing for a vigorous defense.

“At best, there is very circumstantial, flimsy evidence of cell phone tracking,” Murell said. “We disagree with the judge’s conclusion that it was strong.”

Garrison secretly worked with the FBI in the months before his murder, Bradley said. His execution-style killing was a major setback as authorities tried to move up from small-time con artists and street organizers to lawyers and doctors who they said raked in millions of dollars through bogus lawsuits and even unnecessary surgeries.

So far, 52 people have been charged in the case, 48 of whom have pleaded guilty. Despite the enormity of the case, only one attorney, Danny Patrick Keating, has pleaded guilty in return for his cooperation.

That has sparked some criticism of the slow pace and poor findings of the five-year investigation, but several delays in Keating’s long-awaited sentencing led to speculation of bigger bombshells in the form of charges against lawyers or doctors.

The indictment of Harris and Gardner, who could face the rarely imposed federal death penalty in Garrison’s murder, is the most significant development in the case in several years.

Both defendants were clients of Hollywood stuntwoman-turned-lawyer Vanessa Motta, a central figure in the staged accident investigation after five truck accident lawsuits she filed on behalf of clients were frozen due to the lengthy federal investigation.

Bradley testified that a contract for Motta’s legal services was found at Harris’ auto repair shop, Harris R. Motors, on Cleary Avenue in Metairie.

Motta is listed as “Attorney B” in federal court documents. Her fiancé, Sean Alfortish, a disbarred attorney who served time in federal prison for an unrelated fraud case, is listed as “Co-conspirator A,” a phrase prosecutors typically use as a clear signal of criminal involvement.

Neither was collected.

It is estimated that the prevalence of accident fraud in Louisiana increases each Louisiana driver’s car insurance costs by at least $600 per year. While some hoped that the case, dubbed “Operation Sideswipe,” would help reduce these costs, suspect lawsuits are still before the courts and these savings have not been realized.

Click here to report a typo.

► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered straight to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now IOS app store or Google Play.