Man charged in murder-for-hire plot at Pennsylvania shopping plaza
Another man has been charged in connection with a murder-for-hire plot that ended with a deadly shooting in the parking lot of a Pennsylvania shopping plaza in 2022, the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday.
Tuan Dang, 47, was arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday in Philadelphia, the district attorney's office said. He's charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and criminal solicitation in the death of Boyke Budiarachman, who was shot and killed at the Rostraver Square shopping plaza on Nov. 6, 2022.
According to investigators, Keven Lam bought a temporary staffing agency from Budiarachman in 2019. Police said Lam claimed Budiarachman was siphoning employees from his business, and Lam confronted him several times.
Detectives said they learned Lam arranged a hit on Budiarachman by contacting Dang, and the two agreed on a price of $65,000.
On Nov. 5, 2002, police said Lam told Dang that he'd be meeting Budiarachman for dinner at the Rostraver Square shopping plaza. Surveillance video shows Lam and Budiarachman leaving the restaurant and walking to the parking lot. That's when an unknown masked man approached Budiarachman and shot him in the head, investigators said.
After that, Lam told investigators he drove to Philadelphia and put $65,000 in a duffel bag, placing it in a predetermined location for Dang to retrieve.
When the FBI interviewed Dang in Philadelphia, the district attorney's office said he told agents that Lam had hired him to hurt Budiarachman in exchange for money. Dang then made arrangements with the unidentified shooter, who agreed to carry out the murder-for-hire plot, investigators said.
Dang is in custody in Philadelphia and will be arraigned at a later time, the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office said. Lam is also in jail, with a trial tentatively scheduled for May. No one else has been charged, and it's unclear if investigators know who the shooter is.
