BOSTON – Following a five-day trial, a federal jury in Boston convicted a financial planner of attempting to hire an individual to murder a Massachusetts State Police Trooper and another individual who were witnesses in his state trial.
Andrew S. Gordon, 53, of Chelmsford, Mass., was convicted of five counts of using the mail or the telephone with the intent that a murder-for-hire be committed. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for May 20, 2016.
In 2014, Gordon was incarcerated at the Middlesex County House of Correction awaiting trial on state charges for attempting to hire a “hit man” to kill his estranged wife. The “hit man,” was actually an undercover Massachusetts State Police Trooper. After being arrested, Gordon learned that the “ hit man” was an undercover officer and so he hatched a plot to have that officer and a second Massachusetts man, who was to be a second witness against him, killed. Gordon hired a man he believed to be a gang member living in New Hampshire to kill the two witnesses, agreeing to pay $10,000 for the Trooper and $5,000 for the other witness. Through mail and phone calls, Gordon instructed the “gang member” that both deaths should appear as accidents. In actuality, Gordon was communicating with a second undercover law enforcement officer.
The federal charges provide for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 on each count. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Daniel J. Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Boston Field Division; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan; and Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David G. Tobin and Rachel Hemani of Ortiz’s Major Criminal Division.