New Federal Charges Filed against Strafford Man

New Federal Charges Filed against Strafford Man

A 38-year-old Strafford man, charged in December with federal drug trafficking charges, was back in federal court again last Friday. Now he's charged with trying to arrange the murder of a key witness against him in the drug case.

Richard E. Moses Jr. was arrested in Brattleboro last Thursday after he allegedly gave an undercover agent posing as a hit man $3500 and the photograph of the Connecticut man he wanted killed.

Moses appeared in federal court in Burlington the following day on charges of using interstate facilities for plotting a murder for hire, and attempting to procure the killing of a witness.

According to a release from the Vermont U.S Attorney’s office, U.S. Magistrate Jerome Niedermayer ordered Moses held until a bail hearing today, March 30.

Court documents released this week allege that the cash Moses gave the undercover officer last Thursday was a portion of the proceeds of the sale, earlier this month, of a property he owned in Royalton.

Affidavits by investigating officers from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency indicated that federal officials, acting on a search warrant, are in the process of seizing more than $100,000 from Moses’ bank account.

According to court records, the witness Moses wanted killed was the man who supplied Moses with cocaine, in return for cash and guns, on about five occasions last year. Court records allege that in one of those transactions, Moses bought, for $12,500, one half kilogram of cocaine, which he then sold at retail.

However, Moses’ supplier, Jorge Burgos of Hartford, Conn., was indicted (charged) last November on federal drug trafficking charges. Before his indictment, Burgos agreed to cooperate with police by participating in a drug transaction with Moses.

Following that set-up transaction, Moses was indicted Dec. 8 on federal charges of conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, and possession of a semi-automatic handgun while trafficking in drugs.

According to police affidavits, two weeks after his December appearance in court, Moses told another man facing drug charges he wanted Burgos killed. Police learned of this conversation, and a DEA agent from another state, posing as a hit man, contacted Moses.

"In multiple recorded phone conversations during January, February, and March, 2006, Moses allegedly negotiated the murder of the witness with the agent," according to last week’s release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Moses agreed to pay the agent $7000, with half to be paid before the murder and half afterwards, court documents allege.

Court documents indicate that Moses deposited $124,000 into his bank account last Thursday, the same day as his meeting with the undercover agent. Federal prosecutors allege the money came from the sale of a property in Royalton. The property allegedly went through a series of transactions involving at least three parties in December.

If convicted on all charges against him, Moses faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

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