In an effort to stave off an impending foreclosure of his home, a man had made several strange criminal plans, from kidnapping to
murder, involving a local attorney he felt was responsible, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The man, B.N., 46, admitted in federal court to an abduction scheme in which he planned to ransom an unidentified corporate lawyer, that allegedly had romantic interests in the B.N.'s wife.
Other schemes involved forcing the victim to write B.N. checks, threatening him, looting his safe and getting his fingerprints on a weapon that B.N. would then use to kill a friend of the victim's. Another scenario, based on a TV show B.N. had seen, involved falsely telling the victim he had wired him to explosives.
A final scheme involved electrocuting the attorney in his hot tub, and blaming the attorney's cat for knocking a radio into the water.
B.N. only admitted to the kidnapping scheme. He pleaded guilty to solicitation of a crime of violence in a plea deal. Prosecutors agreed to drop murder-for-hire and other charges.
According to court records, starting in 2011 B.N. tried to enlist his wife's help in his schemes. Allegedly B.N.'s wife, a former dancer, was a love interest of the victim's.
B.N., considering that the victim was a wealthy target, thought that he could get the $30,000 he needed from the victim to save B.N.'s home near Pontoon Beach from foreclosure.
Though B.N. argued with his wife to the point of physical violence, she refused to be persuaded into helping him. B.N. admitted that in the course of their arguments he had yanked out some of his wife's hair – and told her that he would leave it behind in a crime scene to implicate her involvement.
B.N. sought out a barge deckhand and fellow union member, who had a criminal record, to help him. However, that man chose to notify the authorities.
Both B.N.'s wife, and the deckhand, had made tapes – unknown to B.N. – recording their conversations with B.N. If the case had gone to trial the tapes would have been made public.
B.N. is facing 20 years in prison according to federal sentencing guidelines. He is due back in court on March 13 for sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Clark, the prosecutor in the case, will be seeking the 20-year sentence.
However, Michael Ghidina, B.N.'s attorney, is planning to argue that his client did not ever intend to kill the victim or use a dangerous weapon on him. Ghidina told reporters, "He never intended ... to murder anybody."
FBI Special Agent N.M. claimed that all of the other plans by B.N. – the looting, threatening and murder plots – are what promoted the FBI and the Madison County sheriff's deputies to arrest B.N. before he could carry out any of his schemes.
In a search of B.N.'s home a pellet gun, ski mask, handcuffs – and a diagram of the attorney's residence – were discovered.
Facing one or more criminal charges? Contact a criminal defense attorney to help you with your case and any plea deal.
