Pinellas County man sentenced in murder-for-hire plot, hired hitman to kill witnesses in fraud scheme
Courtesy: Pinellas County Jail
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - A Pinellas County man was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for his involvement in a murder-for-hire plot connected to a previous arrest in a fraud case, according to the Department of Justice.
Alexander Leszyczynski received his sentence from U.S. District Judge James S. Moody, Jr., after pleading guilty to murder for hire and obstruction of justice.
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According to court documents, in October 2020, Leszyczynski, under the guise of a fake charity, filed a fraudulent warranty deed for a transfer of a property in Reddington Shores. When the two owners of that property sued Leszyczynski to correct the deed, he responded with a series of harassing letters, emails, and faxes to the owners and the lawyer representing them.
In April 2022, Leszyczynski was charged in this fraud case and others, as well as multiple counts of money laundering. He was arraigned on May 17, 2022, according to the DOJ, and ordered detained.
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In August of that year, the FBI found out that Leszyczynski had sought out a hitman while in the Pinellas County Jail to kill the two owners of the property. According to the DOJ, Leszyczynski had told a confidential informant that he had $45,000 hidden at his home, which was available to someone to kill the victims.
Leszyczynski told the informant that he would be able to get the victims' property, and his pending criminal case would have to be dropped if the victims were dead.
The informant then agreed to put Leszyczynski in contact with a supposed hitman, who was actually an undercover agent. In September 2022, Leszyczynski had calls with the undercover agent, during which he provided details identifying the two victims and negotiated the price for their murder at $30,000.
After pleading guilty in both cases, Leszyczynski has written numerous letters attempting to solicit and threaten others to come forward and fraudulently take responsibility for his crimes, according to the DOJ.