A Newton County man was charged with racketeering as part of an investigation into the deaths of two children.

A Clayton County grand jury returned indictments against 10 people on Wednesday in connection with the deaths of 11-year-old Tatiyana Coates and 15-year-old Daveon Coates. They were fatally shot as they slept in their bed at a Libby Lane, Jonesboro, home during a 2016 home invasion.

Federal, state and local agents interviewed more than 50 suspects and witnesses. Clayton County police said their investigation revealed the home invasion and shootings were retaliation for a theft of firearms committed by a 15-year-old boy who was the eldest son of a friend of the Coates siblings’ mother, who had been allowed to move into the family home two weeks prior to the shooting.

Just one day after relocating with his family, Deundre Demond Mitchell allegedly left the home to stay with fellow members of a gang he was associated with in DeKalb County. While there, he allegedly stole guns from a gang member and soon thereafter garnered the resources needed to transport himself to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he remained.

Mitchell was charged with murder in connection with the case, police said. He is now 18.

Sherman Thomas, 24, of 904 Gross Lake Parkway, Covington, was arrested March 23 and charged with one count of violating the state’s Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act. No bond was set. He remained in the Clayton County Jail on Friday.

Melvin Allen Crockett IV, 34, of Forest Park, was arrested on 51 counts including eight counts of felony murder and two counts of malice murder.

Jamar Reshaad Mitchell, 24, of Decatur, was charged with 18 counts including four counts of felony murder.

Michael De’Sean White, 26, of Stone Mountain, was charged with two counts of malice murder.

Jamon Marquice Bynum, 27, of Atlanta, was charged with one count of malice murder.

Also charged in the sweeping indictment were 29-year-old Vernon Jerome Beamon, 27-year-old Devin Dunson, 23-year-old Sterlin Obche Pate and 28-year-old Christopher Leonard Spencer.

“That indictment serves as notice to criminals — and more specifically gang members who commit crimes in Clayton County — that they will be apprehended and prosecuted to the greatest extent,” Clayton County police Chief Kevin Roberts said Thursday in remarks reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Today is a good day.”

Charges filed against various defendants include malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, first- and third-degree cruelty to children, home invasion, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and violation of the RICO Act.

White was a teacher in the DeKalb County School District at the time of his arrest, the AJC reported. He was arrested at Toney Elementary School in DeKalb on March 23 and has been removed from his position pending the outcome of the police investigation.

Charges filed against various defendants include malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, first- and third-degree cruelty to children, home invasion, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and violation of the RICO Act.

White was a teacher in the DeKalb County School District at the time of his arrest, the AJC reported. He was arrested at Toney Elementary School in DeKalb on March 23 and has been removed from his position pending the outcome of the police investigation.

Agencies involved in the case included the FBI Safe Streets Task Force; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office, police and district attorney’s office; Chattanooga police and DeKalb County police and SWAT.