Arlo Whitehead Romano, 44, of Morgantown, one of two men convicted of the May 2022 murder of Matthew Moore, 46, was sentenced to 40 years in prison Monday afternoon before Judge Paul Gwaltney in Monongalia County Circuit Court.
In February, Romano entered a plea of guilty to murder of the second degree, a lesser charge than murder in the first degree for which he was indicted, according to court documents. A kidnapping charge and two counts of conspiracy were dropped as part of the agreement.
Less than a month later, Romano became a key witness for Mon County prosecutors, testifying against his co-conspirator, Cleotis Cortez-Paul Eppes aka “Ghost,” 50, of the Detroit area, at his murder trial in March.
During Eppes’ trial, Romano testified that Eppes enlisted him to help find Moore who owed him drug money and admitted to providing Eppes with a gun, finding Moore, then driving the three of them to a semi-remote location of Round Bottom Road in Morgantown where he said Eppes shot Moore twice.
Romano said he then ran over Moore’s body, a man he claimed to be a friend, with the rental truck he was driving.
Eppes maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming to have not even been with Romano and Moore when Moore was murdered, despite phone records obtained by investigators that place the three men together at the scene.
The jury found Eppes guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy and chose to not to suggest a chance for mercy on a life sentence.
On July 2, Monongalia County Circuit Judge Paul Gwaltney took the jury’s suggestion and sentenced Eppes to two consecutive life terms in prison without the eligibility of parole and an additional one to five years for the conspiracy charge, according to court records.
At Monday’s sentencing, Romano, who appeared in court with both his hands and feet cuffed, chose to exercise his right to address the court prior to the judge’s decision, giving a seemingly heartfelt apology to Moore’s family.
“I just want to say that I’m extremely sorry for what role I played in how things transpired. I will live with it for the rest of my life. I can’t even put into words what it’s like to wake up to that every day,” he said.
“I just hope that I have the opportunity to come back to our community while I am still able to provide for myself and my family and become successful again and do things correctly.”
There was a tense moment as he turned toward members of the Moore family and said, “I wanna say, I’m very sorry.”
Moore’s fiance, Carrie White, his sister, Brandi Shaffer, and mother, Sheila Harvey, all provided emotional victim impact statements to the court. Romano broke down in tears as they spoke.
Romano’s attorney, public defender Justin Hershberger, asked the judge to grant some mercy to Romano who was “not a stone-cold killer” and was “too weak” with his addiction to stand up to someone like Eppes, who he pointed out is the only one in the story not addicted.
Prosecutor Gabrielle Mucciola said she also sees a difference between Eppes and Romano, and that is that Romano was supposed to be Moore’s friend.
She said at the end of the day, addiction was just his excuse and “there is no excuse for murder.”
After reviewing all of the case details and statements, Judge Gwaltney gave an impactful statement to the court prior to sentencing Romano to the maximum 40 years in prison.
“There are a number of concerns that arise from the murder of Matthew Moore. I wonder whether the murder of Matthew Moore troubles this community more than the number of overdose deaths we have suffered in recent years,” he said.
“If it does, I assume it is because Matthew Moore’s murder is a reminder to Monongalia County that the violence and the drug trade that Hollywood has profited from glamorizing has come to our little town in the hills just below the Mason Dixon Line.
“Over the last two years,” he continued, “our county has seen an increase in the number of deaths that were the result of actual violence, not just the delivery of drugs, but the actual taking of lives related to a drug debt or some perceived slight in the so-called drug business. Before the media would report on drug overdoses, but now they are reporting in Morgantown what used to be foreign to our collective experience – drug trade related murders.
“To speak plainly, whether one dies from overdose or from the so-called gangland violence is immaterial,” he said. “At this point it would be premature to say our community has been ravaged by those seeking a quick high or a quick dollar. However, I fear that at the rate we are going with the drug-related deaths, in the next five years, one may be able to say our small little college town has been ravaged by it.”
The judge agreed to allow Romano to be placed in a different prison from Eppes, who is serving his time at North Central Regional Jail.
