New Jersey Man Pleads Guilty to and is Sentenced for Threatening to Kill the CEO and President of Wegmans

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Hans Ni, 31, of Trenton, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to sending threatening interstate e-mails to the CEO and president of Wegmans Food Market before U.S. District Court Judge Charles J. Siragusa. The defendant was then sentenced to five years’ probation by Judge Siragusa.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who handled the case, stated that Ni is a former Wegmans employee in Princeton, New Jersey. On July 27, 2011, the defendant sent threatening e-mails from the Plainsboro Public Library in Plainsboro, New Jersey, to both the president and chief execute officer of Wegmans in Rochester, impersonating a manager of a Wegmans location in New Jersey.

In the e-mail to the president of Wegmans, Ni stated, “I am going to kill you [first name of president]. I am going to murder you—you race traitor.” In the e-mail to the CEO of Wegmans, Ni stated that “I am going to kill you [first name of CEO]. You are a race traitor. I am going to murder you.” The defendant stated at sentencing that he never intended to harm the CEO or president of Wegmans; rather he was attempting to get the person he impersonated in the e-mails, his former supervisor at Wegmans, in trouble.

The plea and sentencing are the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Christopher M. Piehota, Special Agent in Charge.