Friday, February 25, 2005
AUTO DEALERSHIP SALES MANAGER SENTENCED TO UP TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR PLOTTING MURDER OF WITNESSES IN PENDING EMBEZZLEMENT CASE
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that an automobile dealership sales manager at Koeppel Mazda and Hyundai in Long Island City has been sentenced to prison for an indeterminate term of 10 to 20 years for conspiracy to murder two individuals who he believed were going to be prosecution witnesses against him in a pending $50,000 embezzlement case involving the dealership by which he was employed.
According to the District Attorney, the individuals he believed to be “hit men” were actually undercover New York City Police Department detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s NYPD Detective Squad and to the NYPD’s Queens Intelligence Team.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant was convicted of promising to pay $20,000 for the murder of two co-workers who he believed were going to testify against him in a pending prosecution involving charges that he had embezzled over $50,000 from his employer. Fortunately, the plot was thwarted and the defendant has now been sent to prison where he will no longer pose a danger to society.”
District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Jed Kass, 42, of 89-40 151st Avenue in Howard Beach, Queens. The defendant was convicted on November 8, 2004 of Conspiracy in the Second Degree and Criminal Solicitation in the Second Degree after a jury trial before Justice Mark H. Spires who earlier today imposed a sentence of an indeterminate term of 10 years to 20 years in prison.
The District Attorney said that an investigation began in late 2002 when detectives of the District Attorney’s New York City Police Department Detective Squad learned of the homicide plot and informed prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Economic Crimes Bureau.
District Attorney Brown said that the detectives were told that the defendant while behind bars had been seeking to hire a contract killer to murder two individuals -- former co-workers -- who he believed would be witnesses against him.
The District Attorney said that detectives learned that the defendant was being held on Rikers Island on $100,000 bail and had been arrested on November 14, 2002 on grand larceny charges for allegedly stealing over $50,000 from his former employer, Koeppel Mazda and Hyundai at 43-43 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens. The money had been discovered missing during a routine audit and the firm terminated the defendant upon his arrest.
According to the District Attorney, while the defendant was incarcerated he spoke by telephone on January 6, 2003 to an undercover NYPD detective who posed as a “hit man” who could arrange for the proposed double homicide.
Three days later, on January 9, 2003 the defendant met face-to-face on Rikers Island with a second undercover NYPD detective who posed as the “hit” man who would actually kill the intended victims. The defendant provided to the detective detailed written information about the intended targets, including their names, places they frequented, hours they worked and descriptions of their vehicles.
The embezzlement case is pending. The next date in court is March 1, 2005.
The investigation was conducted by Detective James McDonald, now retired, of the District Attorney’s NYPD Detective Squad under supervision of Lieutenant Kenneth Corey and Sergeant Frank Horvath and by Detective Peter Potapchuk of the NYPD Queens Intelligence Team under the supervision of Captain Francis Darsillo.
Assistant District Attorney David Chen of the District Attorney's Economic and Environmental Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Gregory C. Pavlides, Bureau Chief, and Diane M. Peress, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.