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Former BOP Guard Convicted, Sentenced in Murder-for-Hire Case
In 2008, Rudkin pleaded guilty to engaging in oral sex with a female prisoner at FCI Danbury in exchange for candy, cigarettes and alcohol. He had also plotted with the prisoner to kill his wife, offering her $5,000 from his wife’s life insurance policy. Rudkin was charged after the prisoner gave investigators a cup that she had been using to save his semen. As a result, he received a 180-month prison sentence. [See: PLN, May 2009, p.1].
While serving his sentence at FCI Coleman in Florida, Rudkin solicited other prisoners to find someone willing to kill his ex-wife, her new boyfriend, the female prisoner he had sex with at FCI Danbury, and a federal investigator.
Rudkin gave one of the prisoners a handwritten note that listed the locations of each of the victims and how he wanted them to suffer. As a down payment, he mailed $500 from his prison account to the “hit man.”
He was subsequently charged with a multitude of offenses, including attempted murder of an employee of the United States, attempted retaliation against a witness by murder, and use of mail and an interstate commerce facility with intent to commit murder-for-hire. He was convicted on all counts following a jury trial in April 2010.
Rudkin was sentenced to 1,080 months (90 years) in prison for the murder-for-hire plot on July 16, 2010, to run consecutive to his prior federal sentence and to be followed by 3 years on supervised release, assuming he lives that long. See: United States v. Rudkin, U.S.D.C. (M.D. Fla.), Case No. 5:09-cr-00049-MSS-TBS.
Rudkin appealed his convictions, which were affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit on May 27, 2011; the Court of Appeals rejected his argument that he had been “entrapped” by other prisoners, who acted as the government’s agents, and had only played along with the murder-for-hire plot. “The evidence adduced at trial showed that Rudkin initiated the contact regarding the murder for hire and tenaciously pursued the [hit-man] contact that his fellow inmates procured for him,” the appellate court stated. See: United States v. Rudkin, 427 Fed.Appx. 824 (11th Cir. 2011).
This case draws some interesting parallels to another recent case involving a BOP guard, employed at FCI Coleman, who was convicted of arranging an assault that resulted in a prisoner’s murder (see related article in this issue of PLN, pg. 44).
Additional source: Orlando Sentinel
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Related legal cases
United States v. Rudkin
Year | 2011 |
---|---|
Cite | 427 Fed.Appx. 824 (11th Cir. 2011) |
Level | Court of Appeals |
Injunction Status | N/A |
United States v. Rudkin
Year | 2010 |
---|---|
Cite | U.S.D.C. (M.D. Fla.), Case No. 5:09-cr-00049-MSS-TBS |
Level | District Court |
Injunction Status | N/A |