Mulberry Man Guilty Of Hiring 'Hit Man' To Kill IRS Auditor

Robert Nowak was convicted today of hiring a hit man called "Reaper" to bump off an Internal Revenue Service tax auditor.

Reaper, though, wasn't the outlaw biker he purported to be. He was an FBI undercover agent.

It took the six men and six women on the jury about three hours of deliberation to convict Nowak.

No sentencing date was set.

Nowak was led away by U.S. marshals after the verdict was announced. He has been in custody since August.

His tearful wife and three children huddled in the corner of the courtroom afterward.

"The family is pretty devastated," said Elizabeth Greer, one of Nowak's attorneys. "The family and Mr. Nowak have a lot to absorb and take in."

Greer said her client would take advantage of any appeals options available after sentencing.

In closing arguments this morning, federal prosecutors described Nowak as a man bent on having the IRS auditor killed.

"Time and time again, he acted on his own desires," Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Riedel told jurors. "He wanted this woman dead."

Nowak, 48, of Mulberry, is the owner of R.J. Nowak Enterprises Inc., a Polk County construction company.

Riedel said Nowak, who met with an undercover agent he thought was a hit man, paid the agent a $10,000 deposit and another $10,000 after the agent told Nowak he had finished the job.

"He intended to have this person killed because he paid for it," Riedel said.

Defense attorney Melissa Wilson argued that Nowak's friend, Walt McGhee, "induced Randy into pursuing this process" with a hit man known as Reaper, a 6-foot-4-inch undercover agent with a goatee.

"Reaper - the bringer of death," Wilson told jurors. "The guy talked about dismembering somebody like it was nothing."

Wilson said Nowak was "very afraid" of the Reaper and feared he would harm his family if he didn't pay him.

Prosecutors contend Nowak feared that the tax auditor, Christine Brandt, would discover he had hidden millions of dollars and asked McGhee for help in hiring someone to kill her. Nowak thought McGhee was involved with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. McGhee alerted authorities, agreed to tape his conversations with Nowak and put Nowak in touch with the Reaper.

Nowak tried calling it off, Wilson said. But McGhee told Nowak that the Outlaws would harm his family if Nowak didn't follow through, Wilson said.

"Randy says, 'I don't have a choice, do I?' " she said. "Walter says, 'You're not done until the Outlaws say you're done.' "