Goleta Man Indicted in Connection with Murder-for-Hire Plot Targeting Bel Air Resident and Others

LOS ANGELES—A federal grand jury returned an indictment this morning charging a Goleta man with soliciting the murder of his former business partner and others, announced Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles; André Birotte Jr., United States Attorney in Los Angeles; and Leroy Baca, Sheriff of Los Angeles County.

Eugene Darryl Temkin, 50, of Goleta, California, was arrested at his residence on July 14, 2010, without incident. At that time, a criminal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles outlining the scheme by Temkin to hire a third party to murder his former business partner, the man’s wife, and the man’s business partner.

According to the criminal complaint, the investigation began in late 2009 when a source provided information to detectives indicating that Temkin planned to hire a professional killer to murder his former business partner. Over the following several months, undercover law enforcement personnel, posing as professional killers for hire, met with Temkin to discuss how the plot should be carried out. According to the complaint, Temkin wanted the victim forced to pay him $15 million to settle his portion of a failed business venture, and then wanted the victim, his wife and his business partner murdered. Throughout the undercover meetings, Temkin proposed various forms of murder and torture to be exacted on the victims by the undercover law enforcement officers, whom he believed were professional killers.

During the final undercover meeting, which occurred July 8 in Encino, California, Temkin paid the undercover agent the first installment of a $30,000 fee to carry out the murders. According to the plan agreed on by Temkin and the undercover agent, the murders were to be carried out in Spain, where Temkin believed the victims were vacationing, according to the complaint. Temkin provided to the undercover agent, photographs of the victims, as well as other identifying information. Temkin also gave the undercover agent the information he would need to deposit the $15 million into a bank account Temkin established in his name in Montevideo, Urguay.

The indictment charges Temkin with one count of soliciting a crime of violence, one count of attempting to interfere with interstate commerce by threats and violence, and one count of using interstate facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire.

Temkin is currently being held without bond at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, and is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on August 2, 2010.

If convicted on all counts, Temkin faces a statutory maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.

This investigation was conducted by detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and agents with the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.