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Man Gets 30 Years For Trying To Have IRS Officer Killed

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 5, 2009

TAMPA - Randy Nowak told a judge today that he never wanted any harm to come to the IRS officer he tried to have killed.

"It wasn't my intention for that woman to get hurt," Nowak said. "All I've ever done is just help people."

But U.S. District Judge James Moody sentenced Nowak to 30 years in federal prison, telling him, "You just have no conscience." The sentence is the maximum allowed by law.

Moody said Nowak perjured himself when he testified at his December trial that he wasn't trying to hire an Outlaw biker to kill IRS Revenue Officer Christine Brandt, whom Nowak described as a "nice lady."

Nowak testified at trial that he actually thought the Outlaw Motorcycle Club could help him with his tax problems by filing a judicial grievance against Brandt.

Jurors were unconvinced, however, convicting Nowak after viewing videotapes of him talking to an undercover investigator about eliminating Brandt and possibly blowing up the IRS Lakeland office. Nowak also paid the undercover investigator, who went by the name "Reaper."

Nowak's wife and children supported him through his trial but did not attend his sentencing hearing. Defense attorney William Sites told Moody that Nowak had just learned that his wife has divorced him.

"I'm not a hideous person that's been painted," Nowak told the judge. "I've got a heart. I've got compassion. I've got needs."

For the past 15 years, he said, he has been active in local charitable causes, including a fund for a memorial for a Polk County sheriff's officer and dog killed in the line of duty.

"Virtually anybody that crossed my path that had a need didn't go without, and it's all gone – family and all – it's all gone," he said.

He said the IRS auctioned off all his belongings in January, leaving him with nothing but a toothbrush, a comb and some debt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Riedel said Nowak "pursued a criminal endeavor for months." When he ran into problems with the IRS for not paying his taxes for five years, he opted to try to have someone murdered instead of trying to settle his obligations.

"He could have sold his custom home on acres and acres of land with an 11-car garage," she said. Or he could have sold his 18 custom cars or any of his other toys and stopped buying expensive concert tickets for his friends.

"He lived a life of largess," Riedel said. "He decided Christine Brandt's life was a better price to pay. … If it was up to him, Christine Brandt would be dead right now for doing her job."

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

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