By Rich Calder
A former Massachusetts hospital
police chief faces up to 10 years in the slammer after copping a plea Thursday
to conspiring to torture and kill women as part of the infamous “cannibal cop”
case.
Richard Meltz, the 65-year-old
ex-chief of police at US Dept. of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford,
Mass., agreed in Manhattan federal court to accept a prison sentence of 10
years or less after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit
kidnapping. He’ll be sentenced May 22.
Meltz and former Stuyvesant HS
librarian Christopher Asch were busted in 2013 during the feds’ probe of
Michael Van Hise, a cohort of NYPD “cannibal cop” Gilberto Valle.
Asch and Meltz in September
2012 offered to help Van Hise when he said he wanted his wife, sister-in-law
and sister-in-law’s kids raped and murdered, the feds have said.
Meltz, however, insisted he
never plotted to hurt children when entering his plea– a key factor that could
determine whether he will have to register as a sex offender when he gets out
of prison.
The case grew out of an
investigation into NYPD cop Gilberto Valle, who was convicted last year of a
plot to kidnap, cook and eat women.
