New Jersey Man Pleads Guilty to and is Sentenced for Threatening to Kill the CEO and President of Wegmans

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Hans Ni, 31, of Trenton, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to sending threatening interstate e-mails to the CEO and president of Wegmans Food Market before U.S. District Court Judge Charles J. Siragusa. The defendant was then sentenced to five years’ probation by Judge Siragusa.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who handled the case, stated that Ni is a former Wegmans employee in Princeton, New Jersey. On July 27, 2011, the defendant sent threatening e-mails from the Plainsboro Public Library in Plainsboro, New Jersey, to both the president and chief execute officer of Wegmans in Rochester, impersonating a manager of a Wegmans location in New Jersey.
In the e-mail to the president of Wegmans, Ni stated, “I am going to kill you [first name of president]. I am going to murder you—you race traitor.” In the e-mail to the CEO of Wegmans, Ni stated that “I am going to kill you [first name of CEO]. You are a race traitor. I am going to murder you.” The defendant stated at sentencing that he never intended to harm the CEO or president of Wegmans; rather he was attempting to get the person he impersonated in the e-mails, his former supervisor at Wegmans, in trouble.
The plea and sentencing are the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Christopher M. Piehota, Special Agent in Charge.

Atlanta courthouse killing suspect denied bail

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A judge denied bail Tuesday morning for Brian Nichols, the suspect in the Atlanta killings of a judge, a deputy sheriff, a court reporter and a federal agent.
Chief Magistrate Judge Frank Cox -- of neighboring Cobb County -- presided over the hearing, which was held at the Fulton County Jail where Nichols, 33, is being held in maximum security.
Nichols entered the white, cinder-block jailhouse courtroom to the sound of clicking news cameras. Nearly 20 deputies were on hand.
Nichols wore a blue jump suit and blue slippers. His hands and legs were shackled.
Defense attorneys Chris Adams and Gary Parker said Nichols wished to remain silent.
When the judge asked Nichols whether he had any questions or a statement, Nichols replied: "Not at this time."
Tuesday's appearance was the first time the public has seen Nichols since he was captured Saturday in a suburb northeast of Atlanta.
Prosecutor Michele McCutcheon said the state intended to file four charges of murder -- as well as felony escape charges and "other felonies" -- against Nichols at a later date.
The judge read previous rape charges against Nichols, on which he is being held while prosecutors arrange formal charges on the murders.
"It's really just kind of a place-holding situation," said CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
"This will be an investigation of some complexity given the sheer number of crimes that he's likely to be charged with. So this is a process that's only going to get started today and probably will last several months," Toobin said.
After the hearing, Adams spoke to reporters. "This is a time of grief and mourning for the courthouse community," Adams said. "We're going to respect that. There will be plenty of time for us later to lay out our legal arguments and examine the evidence and search for answers in this case."
A few blocks away at Fulton County Courthouse, employees attended a memorial service for the three people killed at the courthouse on Friday morning.

Nichols statement

On Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told CNN's Paula Zahn that Nichols had made a statement to police after his arrest Saturday.
"I can say he gave a statement, and he was cooperative," Howard said, adding that his duties as prosecutor prevented him from going into further detail.
Howard said he saw Nichols shortly after he was taken into custody and he appeared to be "someone who was proud of what he had done -- that he did not show remorse."
"From the responses that I was able to see personally, that's the impression that I received," the district attorney said.
Prosecutors have not said if they will seek the death penalty against Nichols, but Howard said the shootings were among "the most horrendous crimes" local law enforcement had ever seen.
A judge declared a mistrial Monday in Nichols' retrial on the rape, aggravated sodomy and false imprisonment charges. Nichols' retrial was in progress when the shootings occurred.
At the courthouse on Friday, police said Nichols overpowered a deputy sheriff while they were en route to his retrial. He escaped and walked to a courtroom, shooting and killing Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland W. Barnes and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, police said. During his escape Nichols also shot and killed sheriff's deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley.
Police said Nichols then carjacked several vehicles -- injuring a local newspaper reporter -- and then boarded a MARTA subway train north to Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood.
Authorities said Nichols then shot and killed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent David Wilhelm at his home which was under construction near the MARTA station. Next, Nichols stole Wilhelm's truck -- police said -- and drove it to an apartment complex to the northeast in Gwinnett County. There, he took Ashley Smith, 26, hostage, police said. (Full story)
Smith said she was taken captive early Saturday morning, but she gained Nichols' trust by talking to him about her 5-year-old daughter, God and hope. He later gave himself up to police outside Smith's apartment. (Full story)
Smith downplayed her efforts Monday night.
"Throughout my time with Mr. Nichols, I continued to rely [on] my faith in God. God has helped me through tough times before, and he'll help me now," she told reporters at a news conference in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia.

Illinois woman accused of killing son, girl as she babysat them

CNN) -- A Chicago-area woman has been charged with killing her 5-year-old son and a 7-year-old girl as she babysat them, allegedly stabbing each dozens of times in a bedroom this week as they pleaded for their lives, authorities say.

Elzbieta Plackowska, 40, of Naperville, Illinois, allegedly told police she instructed her son Justin Plackowska and the girl, Olivia Dworakowski, to kneel and pray before she fatally stabbed them and two dogs at the girl's home on Tuesday evening, Naperville police said.

Plackowska -- charged Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder -- allegedly gave investigators a number of reasons why she killed the children, the most recent of which was that she was upset with her husband and wanted to cause him pain, according to police.

"She began stabbing her son Justin and told him he was going to heaven tonight," DuPage County prosecutor Bob Berlin told reporters Thursday, citing Plackowska's alleged statements to police. "He pleaded for his life and told her to stop, but she continued stabbing him until he was dead."

Plackowska was being held Thursday without opportunity for bail. If convicted, she would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole.

CNN's attempts to reach lawyer Mike Mara, a DuPage County public defender representing Plackowska, weren't immediately successful.

Police officers found the children's bodies in Olivia's home Tuesday night after Elzbieta Plackowska, covered in blood, arrived at a nearby friend's house and claimed she had been robbed, police said.

The friend called police. Around the same time, Olivia's mother called police to say she had come home from work and couldn't enter the house because there was a strange lock on the door, and that she couldn't find Plackowska or the children, Berlin said.

Officers forced entry into the home and "walked into a scene of unimaginable horror," finding the bodies on the floor of the master bedroom, Berlin said.

Investigators said Plackowska offered several explanations, including that she believed an intruder killed the children, police said. Later, she told police that the children had evil inside them and she needed to drive the devil out, authorities said.

"She ultimately admitted that she had lied to the police in her earlier statements and stated she was angry with her husband," Berlin said.

Plackowska told investigators that she told the children to get ready for bed, and the kids entered the master bedroom, Berlin said. Plackowska said she then went to the kitchen, took two knives, entered the bedroom and told the children to kneel on the floor and pray, according to Berlin.

She told police she stabbed Justin repeatedly, and then stabbed Olivia because Olivia saw her attacking Justin, according to Berlin. She said Olivia, like Justin, pleaded for her life, Berlin said.

Police said Justin was stabbed about 100 times, and Olivia about 50 times.

"She did not express any remorse," Berlin said.

Naperville Police Chief Bob Marshall told reporters that the "senseless taking of the lives of these two children defies logic, and our community is grieving."

In all my years of law enforcement, this is the most gruesome and horrific crime scene that I have seen," Marshall said at the news conference.

Plackowska told police she was upset with her husband in part because he was gone most days, working as a truck driver, and that she felt he didn't treat her as she deserved.

Plackowska is awaiting a November 21 arraignment.