Suspects are facing charges in a brazen scheme to thwart an Indiana court case, tamper with witnesses and kill a judge and his wife, according to prosecutors in Lafayette.
If the plot had succeeded, a witness would have been paid $10,000 for her silence, and a veteran Indiana judge and his wife would be dead, killed by a shotgun blast through their front door.
As it was, the gun attack wounded them both and five people linked to an outlaw motorcycle gang were tracked down and arrested. Wednesday afternoon four of them made initial court appearances in the case that has stunned the nation.
Investigators say they arrested Raylen Ferguson after a several day manhunt. Ferguson, 38, was tracked through doorbell cam video taken at the Tippecanoe home of Judge Steven Meyer and his wife Kim. Authorities say Ferguson blasted a shotgun through the judge’s door, wounding him and his wife on the other side.
Detectives say the accused hitman was recruited by Indiana motorcycle gang member Thomas Moss, who was also arrested last week. Moss, 43, was the alleged mastermind of the death plot, aiming to avoid an upcoming jury trial on domestic violence charges, police said.
Wednesday Moss was escorted into the very same courtroom he was trying to kill and bribe his way out of according to prosecutors, now facing even more serious charges. Moss got choked up as he told the judge he didn’t want a lawyer and would defend himself.
“None of the allegations that were alleged that happened directly actually happened to me by any of the incidents that occurred here,” said Moss in court. “I am presumed innocent, I’ve not done anything since I’ve been in jail, that would warrant me to be segregated from anybody else, to not have contact with my family.”
Moss and his alleged hired gun Raylen Ferguson were ordered held on bonds of at least $5 million. Three other people are also facing charges in connection to the witness tampering and attempted murder case.
The alleged conspiracy includes 32-year-old Blake Smith from Lafayette, a fellow gang member police allege provided the gun used in the ambush shooting.
Also in court Wednesday was Amanda Milsap, who stands accused of trying to bribe a witness in Moss’s initial court case that triggered the murder plot.
“I have a master’s degree in social work…” Milsap told the judge.
She is a mental health worker and ex-wife of Thomas Moss, the plot mastermind according to authorities, and the couple has a 9-year-old son. Moss was allegedly behind the January 18 attack on Judge Meyer and his wife.
“It’s an allegation of witness tampering,” said Judge Lisa Swain, who was brought in from another county to hear the attempted murder and obstruction of justice cases.
“I have absolutely no information that my client is connected to any plot against the judge at all. 100 percent,” said defense attorney Earl McCoy who is representing Milsap. “I do not see it in that affidavit of probable cause.”
Last word from Lafayette is that both Judge Meyer and his wife Kim are recovering from the two shotgun blasts through their front door. She was hit in the hip and may require an operation at some point but has been released from the hospital. The judge had worse wounds to his left arm and has already had a couple surgeries. We are told he’s now hospitalized in Indianapolis.
