Insets, from left: Stephen Smink (New Jersey Department of Corrections) and Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae (Cumberland County). Background: Loyle Lanes in New Jersey when it burned down in 2010 (WPVI).
A former New Jersey bowling alley owner convicted of burning down a rival business was found guilty of trying to kill the government officials who put him behind bars.
Stephen Smink, 62, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit murder, five counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to transport weapons, the Garden State Attorney General”s Office said.
Smink owned a bowling alley in southern New Jersey and in 2010 hatched a plan with two others to burn down Loyle Lanes Bowling Center to eliminate the competition. He was subsequently convicted of arson and sentenced to 15 years in state prison.
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But Smink was not done with his criminal ways — and this time he went from eliminating rival businesses to trying to take out people.
According to prosecutors, New Jersey State Police were tipped off in January 2019 that Smink, while in prison, hired a “cooperating witness” in late 2017 and early 2018 to find a person to murder the people who had convicted and sentenced him in his arson case. Specifically, he hired someone to kill Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, First Assistant Prosecutor Harold Shapiro, two Superior Court judges and an assistant prosecutor who sent him to jail in the first place.
Investigators later found out that prior to hiring the witness, Smink enlisted a member of the Latin Kings gang, who was also imprisoned, to carry out the murders. But that person died before he was able to finish the job.
He even had his mother, now deceased, help him out by having her “write correspondence in furtherance of the conspiracy on his behalf,” prosecutors said. Smink apparently sold off some of his sports memorabilia to pay for the hits, and the witness set up a meeting between Smink and an undercover cop.
“If everybody was together, wipe the whole place out and kill everybody it just looks like somebody making an assault, a gangs meeting,” he told the cop.
He also said: “If somebody shot up the place it looks like the gang getting retribution.”
Smink was convicted on Aug. 15. He now faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 26.
“This conviction sends a clear message: anyone who conspires to harm government officials will be brought to justice,” said Col. Patrick J. Callahan, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “The safety of those who serve the public is non-negotiable, and this outcome reflects the outstanding work of the detectives who pursued this case with unwavering commitment. Their efforts not only protected lives but also upheld the integrity of our democracy.”
