Jury Finds Former Federal Correctional Officer, Now an Inmate, Guilty of Attempts to Kill Federal Agent and Informant

OCALA, FL—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton announces that a federal jury today found Michael E. Rudkin (age 40) guilty of attempting to kill a special agent with the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, attempting to kill a second person in retaliation for providing information to law enforcement, attempting to injure yet another person in retaliation for appearing as a witness, and using the mail in connection with the attempted murders. Rudkin faces a maximum penalty of 100 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 15, 2010.

Rudkin was formerly a U.S. Bureau of Prisons Correctional Officer in Danbury, Connecticut. He was convicted and sentenced in the United States District Court of Connecticut on January 15, 2009, for use of an interstate commerce facility for murder for hire and for sexual abuse of an inmate. Rudkin was serving that sentence as an inmate at the Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Florida, when he committed his most recent crimes.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, while at the Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Rudkin solicited another person to commit the murders, made an initial payment of $500.00 for committing the murders, and promised to ensure that additional monies would be forthcoming.

This case was investigated by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sam Armstrong.