Tim Norman, once a reality star on OWN’s Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s, has been at trial for allegedly planning a murder-for-hire scheme in 2016 that ended in his 21-year-old nephew Andre Montgomery dying. But, as Atlanta Black Star reports, Norman is now claiming that he was arrested because of his ties to Black Lives Matter.
The outlet cites St. Louis' Riverfront Times, which reports that a journalist investigating the crime for an upcoming podcast contacted Norman via letter in the St. Genevieve County Jail.
He wrote back five pages, calling himself the “T.V. Dude” within the response.
His response claims that the U.S. government is targeting him because of protests he took part in after the death of Michael Brown. He wrote, “There were cops on Kim Gardner’s bad cop list after this T.V. dude for years. The Fraternal order has been messing with T.V. dude ever since the Mike Brown stuff…T.V. dude was really out there protesting with a lot of employees. His mom warned him.”
According to prior reporting, Norman was accused of hiring gunman Travell Hill to kill his nephew outside of a St. Louis apartment complex.
Andre, like Norman, was a part of the OWN series and was viewed as a young man who was working hard to stay on the right path. However, Norman and Andre did get into a physical altercation, leading to Norman’s mother Miss Robbie Montgomery to fire Andre. Norman eventually took on a strong persona for the family after Andre’s death, seemingly to comfort the family.
But with the allegations, his actions are now viewed in a different light, especially since he is also accused of taking out several life insurance policies on Andre two years before his murder, including $450,000 with Norman as the sole beneficiary.
The reason for Andre’s death is allegedly revenge; it’s been reported that Norman allegedly believed Andre was behind a robbery at Miss Robbie’s home, but Andre denied any involvement. Instead, he named Norman as the person who could have been behind the crime. Because of this, it’s believed Norman sought to get back at Andre.
