Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Arson/Solicitation of Murder for Hire

TYLER – A 43-year-old Tyler methadone clinic owner has pleaded guilty to attempting to burn down a building occupied by a competing clinic and then plotting to murder his co-conspirator after it became apparent that his co-conspirator might testify against him. Edward Jacobs pleaded guilty Tuesday in Tyler federal court to the felony offenses of attempted arson and solicitation of murder for hire. Jacobs admitted that on March 19, 2012, he gave Daniel Kubisty approximately $3,000 to burn down a building at 3322 E. Fifth Street in Tyler that was at the time being used by the “Add-Life Recovery Center” methadone clinic.

Jacobs and Kubisty both were indicted on June 6 and charged in a superseding indictment with attempted arson and conspiracy to commit arson. The indictment alleged that Jacobs and Kubisty conspired to burn down the building in order to gain a competitive advantage for the Methadone Clinic of East Texas, which also had an office in Tyler. On March 19, Kubisty was arrested in Tyler by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and was found to have a gasoline can, with a wick saturated in gasoline protruding from its neck, in the back of Kubisty’s pickup.

Jacobs also admitted that on June 1, he arranged a meeting with a man he believed he could hire to murder Kubisty in order to prevent Kubisty from testifying against Jacobs in a federal arson case. What Jacobs didn’t know was that the “hit-man” he was dealing with was cooperating with the ATF. During the meeting Jacobs offered to pay the cooperating witness $12,000.00 for Kubisty’s murder. ATF was monitoring the meeting and arrested Jacobs at the scene. The June 6 indictment also charged Jacobs with witness tampering, murder for hire, solicitation of murder for hire, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Jacobs had been in jail awaiting trial since that time.

Jacobs is facing from five to twenty years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the attempted arson and up to twenty years in prison and a $125,000 fine for solicitation of murder for hire. Kubisty’s case is still pending trial.