A Fairbanks man was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for contracting a hit man to kill a life-long friend who lived in Indiana.
Eric Donald Grabber, 57, was sentenced to 77 months in prison for two counts of using interstate commerce in an effort to murder Indiana resident George Cole.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Bottini prosecuted the case, and said Grabber was indicted for having contracting a third person to travel from Alaska to Indiana for the hit.
In court Bottini said the investigation established that Grabber hired a man in Fairbanks to murder Cole. The supposed hit man Grabber recruited went to the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Fairbanks and reported the plot to FBI agents. The man continued to cooperate with investigators and recorded conversations with Grabber detailing the murder scheme.
Grabber paid the presumed assassin a $20,000 deposit and promised an additional $20,000 for the murder. The supposed killer traveled from Fairbanks to Indiana, and when the man told Grabber he wasn’t able to locate Cole, Grabber called Cole from Alaska to learn where he was located.
Investigators say Grabber’s motive was a belief that Cole had cheated him out of a financial investment. Grabber also held a life insurance policy on Cole, for which Grabber was the beneficiary.
Grabber pled guilty in August of 2013 to both counts of the indictment. While addressing the court at sentencing, Grabber turned to his intended victim and said “George, I did pay a confidential informant money to murder you.”
Judge Ralph Beistline commented that this case presented a bizarre set of circumstances in that, other than his involvement this case, Grabber had been a law abiding citizen and a successful businessman. Beistline also noted that Cole is a lifelong friend of Grabber, and that Cole had actually traveled to Fairbanks to speak at the sentencing hearing on Grabber’s behalf.