An NYPD officer is yet to plead guilty over plotting the murder of her husband and boyfriend’s daughter.
The officer in question, Valerie Cincinelli, 36, is a wife, and a mother of two.
Two years ago, she asked her boyfriend to hire a hitman to kill her estranged husband, with the crime made to look like a robbery and the bounty to be paid in gold coins, the authorities said.
Aside plotting the murder of her husband, the officer also suggested the killer run over the boyfriend’s teenage daughter with a car, according to court filings.
Perhaps as unlikely as the plot itself was the person charged with hatching it: a New York City police officer and mother of two whose 12 years on the job included a stint in a domestic violence unit.
On Friday, prosecutors and a lawyer for the officer, Valerie Cincinelli, said at a court hearing that they had reached an agreement under which she would plead guilty in the scheme, though they did not specify what crime she would admit to.
In addition to federal murder-for-hire charges, she faces two counts of obstruction of justice. She had previously entered a plea of not guilty.
Contacted after the hearing, James Kousouros, a lawyer for Officer Cincinelli, said the agreement was awaiting her signature. He declined to comment on the details of the plea deal, except to say that he believed it represented a “favorable” outcome for his client.
A spokesman for the United States Attorney’s office in Brooklyn confirmed that Officer Cincinelli, 36, had agreed to enter a guilty plea and was expected to do so at an appearance scheduled for next Friday. He declined further comment.
A lawyer for Officer Cincinelli’s former husband, Isaiah Carvalho Jr., did not respond to a request for comment.
Officer Cincinelli was suspended without pay after her arrest, and that continued to be her status with the department as of Friday, a police spokeswoman said.
Details of the alleged plot targeting Mr. Carvalho and the teenage daughter of Officer Cincinelli’s boyfriend came to light in the spring of 2019.
At the time, court documents showed, Mr. Carvalho and Officer Cincinelli were in the middle of a messy divorce after four years of marriage and involved a legal skirmish over custody of the couple’s son and how to divide their property.
Starting in February 2019, according to a criminal complaint, Officer Cincinelli began asking her boyfriend to hire a hitman to kill Mr. Carvalho and her boyfriend’s own daughter.
On Feb. 18, 2019, she withdrew $7,000 from a branch of a Long Island bank, according to the complaint. The same day, the complaint said, her boyfriend bought gold coins worth $6,935 in a nearby town. The gold was to go to the killer, the complaint said.
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Source: NewYorkTimes
