FORT WAYNE – This much is known about Roderick Vandrell Lewis.

From the age of 13 until he was 26 he ran with the Gangster Disciples, with whom he spent time selling drugs, beating people up and robbing others. He was in and out of jail and prison in Arizona throughout the past decade.

Before that, while living in Fort Wayne in 1999, he and two other men went inside a Smith Street home with the intention of robbing a pair of supposed drug dealers and left after gunning down two teenagers inside.

This much is what he wanted the families of those teenagers to know:

He’s a good person.

That’s what Lewis, 30, told the members of those families during a sentencing hearing Thursday when he received 130 years in prison for his involvement in the killings of 16-year-old Richard Rogers and 14-year-old Sidney Wilson.

Members of Rogers’ and Wilson’s families spent the better part of an hour lining up to tell Lewis how he had destroyed their lives, how he snatched a pair of loving boys from them and how the past 12 years have been torture.

They also forgave him, because they said that’s what God wanted them to do.

When it was his turn to speak, Lewis praised the families’ faith in God, said he himself was a changed man because of religion and called Rogers and Wilson good people.

And then he jarred the courtroom with this statement:

“I, too, am a good person.”

Police had found Rogers’ and Wilson’s bodies in a home at 3501 Smith St. on June 28, 1999. They had been shot multiple times. Neither teen lived at the home, but police described the house as a party place for youths where drugs were dealt.

At the time of their deaths, detectives theorized that the killings were linked to drugs and gangs. Rogers’ and Wilson’s families took issue Thursday with perceived media depictions of the teens as gang members or thugs.

Though the case was in the forefront of local news, nobody came forward with information and the case went cold.

Lewis, who was 18 at the time of the killings, had been a suspect for a long time, but it wasn’t until 2009 when he admitted he was there. That admission came during an interview with detectives while he was serving time in a private Oklahoma prison for a crime he committed in Arizona.

According to court documents, he claimed he did not pull the trigger on the guns that left the teens dead. Instead, he said two men with him at the time did the killings. These men are named in the court documents and were mentioned frequently during Thursday’s hearing but have not been charged in the killings.

In February, Allen County prosecutors formally charged Lewis with two counts of felony murder and two counts of felony robbery for his involvement in the killings.

The charge of felony murder means that Lewis is accused of committing a crime in which a person is killed.

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, he told the family he was offered numerous plea deals by Allen County prosecutors, but took none of them because they would not drop the felony murder charge. Lewis said he didn’t feel he deserved to serve 50 years in prison, which is what he was offered by prosecutors.

His case went to trial and a jury found him guilty on all counts in November.

“Someone came forward and tried to help, and I get treated like this?” Lewis said.

Makeda Hughes, the mother of Richard Rogers, described her son during Thursday’s hearing as someone who always smiled, who always could laugh, and she scolded Lewis, calling him a coward and cold-blooded.

“How could you be so heartless?” she said. “What did he ever do to you other than befriend you? I know these questions will never be answered.”

Hughes and other family members said that while Lewis’ sentencing brings partial closure, they still want to see the other two men who may have played a role in the killings brought to justice. Allen County prosecutors have said in the past the case is not closed, and more charges are possible.

Prosecutors summarized Lewis’ background Thursday, saying he was involved in drug dealing and violent crimes as a member of the Gangster Disciples.

Before she sentenced Lewis – who complained of his court-appointed attorney and planned to appeal his conviction – Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull called him an articulate and intelligent man. Still, she had trouble finding any redeeming qualities other than those.

“You’re blessed to have these families that forgive you,” she said.

Gull then sentenced Lewis to two 65-year prison terms, to be served back-to-back.

jeffwiehe@jg.net