MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that an inmate in Shawangunk Correctional Facility was indicted and arraigned today for allegedly plotting the kidnapping and assault of the former NCDA prosecutor who prosecuted him.
Chandran Nathan, 59, was arraigned today before Acting Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty on a charge of criminal solicitation in the 2nd degree (a D felony). The defendant pleaded not guilty, was remanded and is due back in court on December 15. Nathan faces up to 3-1/2 to seven years in prison if convicted.
“This case is a reminder of the difficult and dangerous jobs that law enforcement professionals do every day,” DA Singas said. “We will continue to work to ensure their safety and those who attempt to tamper with our prosecutions will be held accountable. I thank the Nassau County Police Department, State Department of Corrections and our NCDA Detective Investigators for investigating this case.”
DA Singas said that Nathan, an inmate at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, N.Y., allegedly plotted to kidnap a former NCDA prosecutor who prosecuted the defendant.
Nathan, according to a tip received by the NCDA, allegedly planned to have a third-party, outside of prison, abduct the former prosecutor off the street, place him in handcuffs and assault him.
The defendant requested that the former prosecutor be beaten about the body – but not around his face – and to be water boarded, if necessary. Nathan allegedly wanted the former prosecutor to give videotaped statements that a number of confessions he used in his career were coerced and tainted. The defendant allegedly wanted the prosecutor to mention a number of cases he prosecuted so that it would not be known that Nathan ordered the kidnapping.
Nathan allegedly offered to pay a third-party up to $10,000 for the successful kidnapping.
The case was investigated by members of the Nassau County Police Department’s DA Squad and NCDA detective investigators with assistance from the New York State Department of Corrections.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Anne Donnelly, Deputy Chief of DA Singas’ Rackets Bureau. The defendant is represented by Stephen G. Murphy, Esq.
The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty.