The Workplace of the US Lawyer for the District of Vermont acknowledged that final Thursday, Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles, California and Berk Eratay, 36, of Las Vegas, Nevada, had been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in reference to a murder-for-hire conspiracy and the January 6, 2018 kidnapping and dying of Gregory Davis, a resident of Danville, Vermont. The wire fraud cost was added to present homicide for rent conspiracy costs in opposition to Gumrukcu and Eratay and Jerry Banks, 35, of Fort Garland, Colorado and kidnapping costs in opposition to Banks. The defendants’ arraignment on the second superseding indictment is scheduled for December 29, 2022.
As described in Depend 3 of the second superseding indictment, Gumrukcu and Eratay, in reference to enterprise dealings with Davis, devised a scheme to defraud Davis and different particular person by trying to deceive them concerning the amount of cash out there to Gumrukcu and his related entities in addition to the identities of people concerned with Gumrukcu.
The wire fraud cost within the second superseding indictment carries a most sentence of twenty years. The homicide for rent conspiracy and kidnapping costs carry a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment. The second superseding indictment accommodates accusations solely, and the defendants are presumed harmless till and except confirmed responsible.
The prosecutors are Assistant United States Attorneys Paul Van de Graaf and Jonathan Ophardt. Banks is represented by Michael Desautels and Mary Nerino from the Federal Public Defender’s Workplace. Eratay is represented by Robert Katims, Esq. Gumrukcu is represented by David Kirby, Esq.
U.S. Lawyer Nikolas P. Kerest recommended the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Vermont State Police for his or her collaborative investigation of Gumrukcu, Eratay, and Banks and the crimes related to Davis’s homicide. U.S. Lawyer Kerest additionally thanked the Inside Income Service Prison Investigations for aiding within the ongoing investigation.
This case is a part of Mission Protected Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing collectively all ranges of regulation enforcement and the communities they serve to scale back violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everybody. On Might 26, 2021, the Division launched a violent crime discount technique strengthening PSN based mostly on these core rules: fostering belief and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that assist stop violence from occurring within the first place, setting centered and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the outcomes. For extra details about Mission Protected Neighborhoods, please go to https://www.justice.gov/psn
