Two more arrests far from Vermont in a murder-for-hire case

The variety of folks accused in a murder-for-hire plot that led to the loss of life of a Danville man greater than 4 years in the past continues to extend, with arrests this week in California and Nevada. 

Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles and Berk Eratay, 35, of Las Vegas had been each taken into custody Tuesday after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Vermont, federal prosecutors acknowledged in a information launch Wednesday.

The 2 males are every charged with conspiring to make use of interstate commerce services within the fee of murder-for-hire within the loss of life of Gregory Davis, a Danville resident. 

If convicted, each males face necessary life jail sentences or the loss of life penalty.

Each males are anticipated to make appearances this week in federal courts within the states the place they had been arrested earlier than being dropped at Vermont to face the fees. 

The indictment naming Gumrukcu and Eratay had been returned by the grand jury on Could 19, however was sealed. It was unsealed Wednesday after the arrests.

The one-paragraph indictment doesn’t element exactly what the 2 males allegedly did in reference to the murder-for-hire plot. 

It acknowledged that between Could 2017 and February 2018, the 2 males conspired “to trigger one other to journey in interstate commerce, and to make use of and trigger one other to make use of services of interstate commerce, particularly mobile phone networks, with the intent that homicide of Gregory Davis be dedicated.”

The indictment additionally acknowledged that the alleged conspiracy concerned a “promise and settlement to pay one thing of pecuniary worth” for the killing, although it doesn’t particularly state who was paid, or how a lot. 

Fabienne Boisvert-DeFazio, a spokesperson for the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in Vermont, mentioned Wednesday afternoon that she couldn’t present extra data associated to the indictment or say how Gumrukcu and Eratay are related to one another, or to Davis.

Two males had been beforehand detained in reference to Davis’ killing. 

Jerry Banks, 34, of Fort Garland, Colorado, was arrested in Wyoming final month and charged with kidnapping Davis from his residence. 

Authorities say Banks took Davis from his house on Jan. 6, 2018, by posing as a U.S. Marshal who got here to arrest Davis on racketeering expenses. A day later, Davis, 49, was discovered lifeless in a snowbank a number of miles from his house, shot within the head and torso. 

Nobody has but been charged straight with killing Davis, although courtroom paperwork comprise allegations that it was Banks who murdered him. Police consider Banks had been paid to kill Davis, since investigators couldn’t discover a private connection between the 2 males.

Aron Lee Ethridge, 41, of Henderson, Nevada, was additionally arrested final month on a cost of conspiring to kidnap Davis. Prosecutors allege Banks communicated with Ethridge earlier than and after Davis’ killing, together with informing Ethridge that “Davis had been efficiently kidnapped and murdered.”

The courtroom has ordered Ethridge detained whereas awaiting trial. He was being held at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans till Could 18, in accordance with the Vermont Division of Corrections’ on-line database.

Banks, who made his first federal courtroom look in Wyoming final month, has been ordered transferred to Vermont to reply to the kidnapping cost. 

He has not but made a courtroom look in Vermont. However on Wednesday, federal prosecutors in Vermont filed a request to maintain him in detention as soon as he arrives, saying he may flee and pose a hazard to the neighborhood.

In a written movement, Assistant U.S. Lawyer Paul Van de Graaf mentioned Banks may face extra critical expenses that carry a compulsory life sentence or the loss of life penalty. The prosecutor additionally mentioned Banks has no shut members of the family, no common employment and the property he owns in Colorado is mortgaged and price little.

“The defendant has a historical past of ‘dwelling off the grid,’” Van de Graaf wrote. “The defendant has no cause to remain in the US.”

Authorities additionally argue that Banks’ earlier actions present a critical threat to the protection of potential witnesses within the case. 

“Somebody who would kill for cash would possible kill or improperly affect a witness or in any other case search to affect the course of a trial that may lead to his life in jail,” Van de Graaf wrote.

He mentioned a search of Banks’ residence in Colorado and his non permanent quarters in Wyoming resulted within the seizure of firearms, together with a 9mm handgun and a ghost gun.

Ghost weapons are unregistered and untraceable firearms, that are privately made out of a equipment, particular person parts or a 3D printer.