A Philadelphia man was sentenced Friday to 95 years in prison for planning to kill the Cumberland County prosecutor and other officials as retribution for an earlier conviction for plotting to burn down a rival bowling alley.
Steven Smink, 62, was convicted Aug. 15 of one count of conspiracy to commit murder, five counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to transport weapons and transporting weapons following a trial before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Levin.
“The sentence handed down today is appropriate for this defendant, who planned to kill public servants for doing their jobs when they convicted him for previously committed crimes,” Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement. “Thanks to the excellent investigative work by State Police and prison officials, his murder-for-hire plot was discovered before anyone was harmed.”
Smink was convicted of conspiring with others from January 2018 to December 2020 to kill Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, First Assistant Prosecutor Harold Shapiro, two superior court judges and an assistant prosecutor who were involved in his 2014 conviction for arson charges.
Smink, the former owner of a Deerfield Township bowling alley, was previously sentenced to 15 years in prison for orchestrating a plan to burn down a rival bowling alley, Vineland’s Loyle Lanes, in 2010. Two Philadelphia residents accused of starting the fire also pleaded guilty.
A Philadelphia man was found guilty Wednesday of planning to kill multiple government officials, including Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, state Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
In April 2019, while Smink was serving his sentence in Northern State Prison in Newark, State Police received information from the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness that he had hired a cooperating witness in late 2017 and early 2018 to help him carry out a murder-for-hire plot.
Investigators found that Smink originally hired a member of the Latin Kings gang, who was also imprisoned, to execute the murders. The Latin Kings member died prior to carrying out Smink’s plans. Smink then contracted with the cooperating witness to find a hitman as Smink oversaw the transfer of sports memorabilia to pay for the hits and directed his mother, Esther Smink, now deceased, to write correspondence in furtherance of the conspiracy on his behalf.
In a meeting with an undercover officer, Smink said, “If everybody was together, wipe the whole place out and kill everybody it just looks like somebody making an assault, a gangs meeting.” He also said, “If somebody shot up the place it looks like the gang getting retribution.”
Webb-McRae addressed the court at the sentencing hearing.
“I signed up for my job,” she said. “And as the front-facing symbol of my office, it could be argued that I knew the risks when I did. But Judge, my family didn’t. My neighbors didn’t. My church family didn’t. And when they read that someone was arrested in a plot to kill me, they feel a little less safe spending time in spaces where I am present.”
Contact Dan Grote:
609-272-7234
dgrote@pressofac.com
X @ACPress_Grote
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