Man Sentenced for Attempted Arson, Solicitation of Murder for Hire

TYLER – A 43-year-old Tyler methadone clinic owner has been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty last December to attempted arson and solicitation of murder for hire. Edward Jacobs was sentenced to 188 months Thursday in Tyler by U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.

According to federal prosecutors, on March 19, 2012, Jacobs gave Daniel Kubisty $3,000 to burn down the Add-Life Recovery Center, a methadone clinic located in a building at 3322 East Fifth Street in Tyler. Jacobs and Kubisty conspired to burn down the building in order to gain a competitive advantage for the Methadone Clinic of East Texas, which was owned by Jacobs and 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 his pickup.

After Kubisty’s arrest, Jacobs feared Kubisty would testify against him, and on June 1, 2012, he arranged a meeting with a man he believed he could hire to murder Kubisty in order to prevent Kubisty’s testimony. During the meeting, Jacobs offered to pay the hit-man $12,000 for Kubisty’s murder. ATF was monitoring the meeting and arrested Jacobs at the scene. Kubisty pleaded guilty to attempted arson on January 19, 2013 and is awaiting sentencing.