Man linked to New York.'cannibal cop' case pleads guilty

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Massachusetts hospital police official linked to the so-called cannibal cop case pleaded guilty on Thursday in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to kidnap and kill women.

New Hampshire man Richard Meltz, 65, faces up to five years in prison on each of two conspiracy counts when he is sentenced later this year. The plea deal came just weeks before Meltz and two co-defendants were scheduled to go to trial on charges that they hatched a kidnap plot online.

The case stems from an investigation into New York police officer Gilberto Valle, whose trial and conviction last year for plotting to kidnap, cook and eat women earned him the tabloid nickname "Cannibal Cop."

**WARNING SOME MAY FIND THIS DISTURBING**

From the complaint filed by the US Attorney:

MELTZ: So, I mean, that’s not even a little problem. The big problem is the DNA. You know. As we said, murder is easy, getting away with it is not.

MELTZ: Once you have a dead body you can do anything you want with it. I mean she’s not going to complain. I actually don’t think there’s a problem with that. It’s just a matter of spending the proper time. You remove the teeth, you’re going to remove that part of any dental ID … And you’re going to remove, you take the fingers, that’s just going to be able to ID the palm, you slit her hand off at the wrists, and stuff. Now if they don’t have DNA and they find this body there, I mean, maybe you can just chop off the head, and don’t worry about pulling the teeth. And you put the head someplace. So, I mean, there are ways to dismember and dispose. MELTZ: . It’s challenges, but they’re exciting challenges to work through.

MELTZ: Yup. You’re absolutely right. It’s timing, too. It’s a matter of getting everything in. When I was on the hunt, and even up here, I’m an old guy, but I’m still looking, when you’re on a hunt most of this is going to turn out to be fruitless in the end but the excitement and the adrenaline rush is incredible when you’re hunting some prey and they have no idea or concept that they’re being followed. They’re just in their own little nitwit world. On the phone doing what they have to do. They have no concept that within minutes or seconds they could be fighting a futile fight for their life.

MELTZ: It just, and I know this is a sick thing, but if this turns me on, you know, you give me your thoughts on [killing] my wife, too.

You know this whole thing is a bit disturbing in that they had not actually committed any of these acts or had any real plans to do so. They just went into in-depth discussion of how they COULD do it.

Yes it is a disturbing topic to enjoy discussing but are we really OK with “thought crimes” now?

You could discuss a macabre book plot this way, and get arrested for it?

This could set a PRECEDENT for other things we don’t like... Like expressing impure thoughts about the government

Gilberto Valle

Accused "cannibal cop" Gilberto Valle was convicted 3/11/13 on all charges in what prosecutors called a "heinous plot" to kidnap, cook and eat his wife and several other women.

A six-woman, six-man Manhattan federal court jury announced the stunning decision after 16 hours of deliberations.

Valle, 28, faces up to life in the slammer for his sickening scheme, which he hatched over the Web with people he met through the darkfetishnet.com Web site.

Let me clarify my direction of thought- To be convicted of conspiracy you need two people to discuss a plan AND commit at least one act towards carrying out the plan

They talked and talked, but never carried out any act.

I am not a lawyer, and I don’t even play one on TV, but I think that is how I remember it: “Federal statutes, and many state statutes, now require not only agreement and intent but also the commission of an Overt Act in furtherance of the agreement.”

so he was convincted of THINKING ABOUT killing and eating people??

not so sure this is a good thing...

couldn’t he easily claim it was a sick fantasy he enjoying musing about?

If he never commited one overt act, is he guilty of anything but a thought crime?

The prosecution proved one extremely troubling fact — Valle had illegally accessed a police database to search for information about women.

Valle showed that he was willing to break the law and risk his job in furtherance of his obsession, and the prosecution effectively argued such actions proved his intent to carry out his plot.

http://news.yahoo.com/man-linked-york-39-cannibal-cop-39-case-000831207.html

THINKING ABOUT

Well, there is that conspiracy aspect...

Massachusetts does attract them. I came across a "recent" reference to a MA resident (Spain-born, UK naturalized) that was conspiring to kidnap and eat a child with somebody from MO, iirc.

And you can't forget [short order cook] Nathaniel Bar-Jonah. After his release (and name change) from MA's Bridgewater State Hospital for Sexual Predators, he moved to MT to fulfill his canni-pedo cravings.

NYC's not immune either. Albert Fish was another one, about a century ago.

FWIW, in the cannibal argot, "long pig" is the term for human meat.

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