The following press release has been received from the United States Attorney’s Office:
Please find attached a superseding indictment returned today by a federal grand jury in Rockford, Ill., against Edward F. Bachner, IV, 36, formerly of Lake in the Hills, Ill., who was initially charged and arrested on June 30, 2008, on federal charges that he possessed a neurotoxin, Tetrodotoxin (TTX).
Bachner was indicted last summer on five counts of possessing a biological agent for use as a weapon and five counts of possessing a biological agent without any justifiable research or other peaceful purpose.
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and remains in federal custody while the case is pending in Federal Court in Rockford.
Today’s superseding indictment contains those same charges and adds six new counts:
- one count of wire fraud alleging that Bachner engaged in a scheme to obtain TTX to kill his wife to collect $20 million in life insurance proceeds;
- one count of soliciting another in 2005 to commit a federal felony involving the use of force;
- one count of using an interstate facility for murder for hire in 2005; and
- three counts of filing false claims for federal income tax refunds.
Bachner is scheduled to be arraigned on the superseding indictment at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 18, before U.S. Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney in U.S. District Court in Rockford.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only allegations and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
July and August, 2008, background:
Puffer Fish Toxin Man Seeking Murder of Woman in 2006
Bachner Connection to the Murder Request: “I was bored.”Dog Days and Zombies Have Arrived
Speculation for Motive of Puffer Fish Poison Guy
Lake in the Hills Puffer Fish Man Indicted, Charged with Getting Toxin to Use as a Weapon
The puffer fish lamp is found at The Breakers, an excellent Chinese restaurant in Crystal Lake.