Man Gets 6 Years For Murder-For-Hire Attempts at Bel-Air Man

A Santa Barbara County man will spend six years in federal prison for plotting the torture and murders of three people involved in a business deal gone bad, a judge ruled Monday.

Eugene Temkin, 51, of Goleta was tried and convicted in August of orchestrating the murders of a Bel-Air man, his wife and a business associate. The intended victim, Michael Hershman, and his family were stalked for years leading up the murder-for-hire attempts and have suffered greatly, according to prosecutors. Temkin sought repayment after a business deal for a casino in Africa fell through, according to a press release from the United States Attorney's Office.

Investigators received a tip about Temkin in 2009 and posed as professional hitmen in meetings with Temkin. Detectives from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the FBI worked the case together.

“The evidence showed that defendant engaged in criminal conduct of the worst sort: With meticulous planning and full contemplation, defendant agreed to pay a hitman, ‘Pavel’ [who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer], to brutally kill in cold blood three people, two of whom he barely knew,” according to a sentencing brief. “What is more, these killings were only to take place after ‘Pavel’ first tortured the victims in order to force them to pay $15 million into defendant’s off-shore bank account.” 

Temkin was arrested in the summer of 2010. He has been held without bond since then.