Contract on IRS Employee

[The Observer]

Tax evader decides to eliminate the tax collector

[Leftcoaster]

Tax evader decides to eliminate the tax collector

Probably also eliminated any chance at personal freedom for the next 20+ years.

[The Observer]

He is stupider than you think, which I know probably sounds impossible.

But consider this: if his plan had gone accordingly and he had avoided detection, nothing would have changed regarding his unpaid taxes. Despite the murder of the revenue officer, the taxes would have not gone away. His tax case would have been reassigned from the deceased to another collector who would have contacted him again in the future in regards to securing the unpaid taxes. The tax lien would have still been in force and encumbering his assets. So spending $20,000 to whack an IRS employee would have done nothing whatsoever to change his situation regarding his tax liability.

So we are left with these two conclusions: he did it simply for revenge and therefore is dumbass stupid. Or he did it thinking he could get rid of his taxes or intimidate the IRS into not pursuing the liabilty - in which case he is double-dumbass stupid.

[Demosthenes]

That scheme is *so* five-minutes-ago. Everyone knows that judges are the target these days, not IRS employees.

[The Observer]

That scheme is *so* five-minutes-ago. Everyone knows that judges are the target these days, not IRS employees.

Too bad the word isn't getting to the lunatic fringe. IRS enforcement employees have to deal with a number of threats, harassment, bogus lien filings, phony/malicious lawsuits, assaults and batteries throughout their careers.

[Dr. Caligari]

Double dumbass stupid? How about triple dumbass stupid?

"Reaper" told him the job would be done by the end of the week, the complaint says.

"OK, that's fine," Nowak said. "That's perfect."

He had another request.

"How much would it cost me to have that building severely damaged?"

"The IRS building?"

"Yes," Nowak said. "Or do you not want to get into that? That's federal."

He thinks that blowing up an IRS building is a federal crime, but assassinating an IRS agent isn't?

[The Observer]

He thinks that blowing up an IRS building is a federal crime, but assassinating an IRS agent isn't?

I'm sure he believed that because she wasn't in the Virgin Islands, it couldn't be a federal matter.

[gezco]

My favorite reader comment:

Labelling this guy an idiot demeans idiots the world over.

[hartley]

Well, now I'm glad I only worked over the phone at an IRS call center. The people I talked to never knew where I was.

And yeah, I vote for triple-dumbass-stupid.

[The Observer]

Video from hidden camera shown in court hearing

Nowak Denied Bail in Murder Plot


Prosecutors say Mulberry businessman wanted to hire a hit man to kill an IRS employee who was auditing him.

By Jason Geary

THE LEDGER
http://www.theledger.com/article/200808 ... 60401/1410

Published: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 11:20 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 11:27 p.m.

TAMPA | Video from a hidden camera shows an undercover FBI agent - posing as a hit man called "Reaper" - walking over to a dark Ford Excursion parked at a Home Depot in Lakeland.



RANDY NOWAK
Related Links:
Criminal Complaint and Affidavit of Randy Nowak
Man Held in Plot to Kill IRS Agent
Randy Nowak, a large man with a goatee and blond hair, sits behind the wheel. In the video, shown in federal court Wednesday, the phony assassin hands over some photographs.

Looking at the photos, Nowak, owner of a construction company, is seen pointing out an Internal Revenue Service employee, Christine Brandt, who was auditing him.

Federal prosecutors allege the plan was for $20,000 to exchange hands by the end of the week, and for the woman to be dead.

During the hearing at the federal courthouse in Tampa, prosecutors showed about three minutes of the recordings taken as evidence in a murder-for-hire case against Nowak, 48, of Mulberry.

Nowak has been charged with attempting to kill an officer or employee of the United States.

After watching the video on a large projection screen, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas B. McCoun III ordered Nowak remain in custody without bail.

McCoun said prosecutors presented "clear and convincing evidence at a minimum" that Nowak intended to kill the IRS employee.

The footage includes Nowak handing over a white envelope at the July 29 meeting. Prosecutors said the envelope contained $10,000 as a down payment for the murder.

Nowak asked whether the woman's body would be found any time soon. Reaper assured him his plans to get rid of the woman would leave no trace.

"OK," Nowak says on the video. "That's cool."

Also on the video, Nowak is heard discussing whether Reaper might be able to have an IRS office in Lakeland "severely damaged" - perhaps with explosive substances in the electrical box.

"I want to cover my bases," Nowak says on the video. "I want it to go away." Reaper told Nowak the murder would be completed by the end of the week, the video shows, and the meeting ends with a handshake.

If convicted as charged, Nowak could face up to 20 years in prison, according to the United States Attorney's Office.

Robert Courtenay, an agent for the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, testified the investigation into Nowak began in June. A confidential informant took information about an alleged murder plot to a detective with the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

The informant was described at Wednesday's hearing as being a longtime friend of Nowak and "like a brother."

While the six-week investigation began to unfold, the IRS employee was placed into hiding for her protection, Courtenay said. Security was also heightened at the IRS office, he said.

Nowak was arrested after going to a July 31 meeting with the hit man at a Smokey Bones restaurant in Lakeland, prosecutors said. He had been told the murder had been committed. Investigators found money in a McDonald's sack inside Nowak's vehicle.

An affidavit filed in the federal case states Nowak wanted to avoid paying $300,000 owed to the IRS and was worried an audit would turn up $4 million he had in an account in Jamaica. Information about the existence of such an offshore stash appears to come from statements made by Nowak, according to the affidavit and testimony provided at Wednesday's hearing.

Public records show that Nowak, owner of R.J. Nowak Enterprises on Shepherd Road, filed for bankruptcy in 2002, and his case was closed a few years later.

Bill Sites, a Lakeland lawyer who represented Nowak at the Wednesday hearing, argued Nowak has ties to the community, would surrender his passport and submit to any conditions if he were released from custody.

He said Nowak's criminal history is fairly dated, and pointed out there are no past crimes of violence. Sites declined to comment further after the hearing.

In 2007, Nowak was charged in Polk County with working as a contractor without a license. He completed a pretrial diversion program, and prosecutors dropped the charge against him.

[ Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or 863-802-7536. ]