Baltimore, Maryland – Clement Robert Mercaldo, Jr., a 62-year-old man from Timonium, Maryland, has pleaded guilty to federal charges for a murder-for-hire conspiracy and for interstate communications with intent to extort, in connection to the extortion and planned murder of a Baltimore County restaurant owner and his partner over a debt.
According to his plea agreement and other court documents, Mercaldo loaned more than $1 million to a Baltimore County restaurant owner. When the restaurant owner was unable to make the monthly payments, Mercaldo hired a co-conspirator to send messages threatening victims and their families in order to extort money. During the course of the plots, Mercaldo paid the co-conspirator to vandalize a victim’s car and set fire to a victim’s house as part of the plot to extort. Later, Mercaldo agreed to pay the co-conspirator to murder one of the victims.
“Clement Mercaldo hired someone to extort and threaten victims who owed him money, including setting fire to the house where a victim and his family were sleeping and attempting to murder them. The defendant then went to great lengths to conceal his role from investigators and tried to subvert justice by falsely claiming that he was a victim, too,” said Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner. “This successful prosecution is another example of how our Maryland law enforcement team will never give up in holding accountable criminals like Clement Mercaldo.”
Between 2008 and 2017, Mercaldo, a former restaurant owner, loaned over $1 million to the victim. The victim repaid Mercaldo until 2019, when he was unable to make further payments. As a result, Mercaldo was in significant financial distress, causing him to sell personal belongings in order to continue to pay his expenses.
Beginning in March 2019, Mercaldo hired a co-conspirator to assist in his plot to collect the debt through a variety of extortionate means. Mercaldo gave at least $1,000 in cash to the co-conspirator in exchange for the co-conspirator agreeing to send threatening messages to the victim and destroy the victim’s property, with the intent to pressure the victim to repay Mercaldo.
According to Mercaldo’s plea agreement, between March 28 and 29, 2019, the co-conspirator smashed the windows of the victim’s car in his driveway. Immediately before and after the windows were smashed, the co-conspirator used an anonymous texting application to threaten the victim. The messages referenced a debt and threatened the victim’s wife. In the first few days of April 2019, the co-conspirator also placed calls to the victim in which he took responsibility for smashing the windows and then threatened the victim’s wife.
Mercaldo and the co-conspirator planned to murder the victim, but no further details on the planned murder are available. Mercaldo is currently awaiting sentencing for his crimes. The charges against him carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. The case was investigated by the FBI and the Baltimore County Police Department.
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Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Violent Crime|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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