Michigan doctor is arrested over ‘murder-for-hire plot to kill two attorneys with fentanyl’

Daniel Schwarz, 56, a doctor who runs pain and addiction clinics in Ohio and Michigan, was arrested last week for allegedly hatching a murder-for-hire plot to kill two attorneys for revenge after he lost a $60,000 lawsuit they litigated, according to federal authorities

A Michigan doctor has been accused of hatching a murder-for-hire plot to kill two attorneys for revenge after he lost a $60,000 lawsuit they litigated.  

Daniel Schwarz, 56, was arrested on Friday in Sylvania Township after authorities learned of his alleged plan to kill Mike McColluch and Robert Meisner.  

FBI agents said Schwarz was angry after he lost a nearly $60,000 lawsuit against a condo association in a lakefront community where he lived outside Detroit. 

Schwarz, a pain and addiction specialist who runs clinics around the Detroit metro area and in northwest Ohio, allegedly tried to persuade a female patient to poison McCulloch, who represented the condo association in the suit, with the powerful opioid fentanyl. 

He also fantasized about killing Meisner, his own attorney, whom he blamed for ‘a perceived lack of effort’ in the suit, authorities say.   

The woman contacted police early this month and began working undercover with the FBI to secretly record Schwarz as he devised his plan. 

Federal officials said the doctor also plotted to hire a hitman and pay him $10,000 to kill McCulloch.  

Schwarz has been charged with conspiracy and attempt to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, and more charges are expected to be filed in the future.  

Schwarz has been charged with conspiracy and attempt to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, and more charges are expected to be filed in the future. FBI agents said the doctor (pictured) was angry after he lost a nearly $60,000 lawsuit against a condo association in a lakefront community where he lived outside Detroit

Schwarz has been charged with conspiracy and attempt to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, and more charges are expected to be filed in the future. FBI agents said the doctor (pictured) was angry after he lost a nearly $60,000 lawsuit against a condo association in a lakefront community where he lived outside Detroit

Schwarz allegedly tried to persuade a female patient to poison attorney Mike McCulloch (pictured), who represented the condo association in the suit, with the powerful opioid fentanyl

He also fantasized about killing his own attorney Robert Meisner (pictured), whom he blamed for 'a perceived lack of effort' in the suit, authorities say

Schwarz allegedly tried to persuade a female patient to poison attorney Mike McCulloch (left), who represented the condo association in the suit, with the powerful opioid fentanyl. He also fantasized about killing his own attorney Robert Meisner (right), whom he blamed for ‘a perceived lack of effort’ in the suit, authorities say

Schwarz admitted to talking about the plot after he was arrested, according to court documents.

He allegedly told FBI agents he had ‘fantasized’ about killing McCulloch and Meisner and that he discussed ‘kidnapping the attorneys and taking them to a secluded location and burning them, or injecting them with fentanyl’ in a scene he compared to the Quentin Tarantino film ‘Reservoir Dogs’.

However, Schwarz claimed he never actually planned to kill anyone, saying the ultimate goal of the plot was to get narcotics into McCulloch’s system and to plant drugs in both attorneys’ cars.   

FBI agents knocked on the door of McCulloch’s Michigan home at around 4am Friday to deliver the unsettling news that Schwarz had been plotting to murder him.

‘I couldn’t believe it,’ McCulloch told Detroit’s WXYZ. ‘I will tell you that I’ve been a lawyer for 35 years, and I’ve never run into people like this.’  

The Oakland County Circuit Court attorney testified about Schwarz’s alleged plot in front of a judge in the condo dispute on Wednesday.   

He said agents had told him the female patient ‘had been groomed and recruited to put out a hit on me’. 

‘[The fentanyl] would be brushed on my skin and I would suffer death,’ McCulloch told the judge.  

He thanked law enforcement for their efforts and said he feels fortunate to have escaped the ordeal unscathed.  

‘Believe it or not, this was one of the last cases I’m handling,’ McCulloch told The Washington Post, noting that he is nearing retirement. ‘What a way to go out.’

McCulloch also thanked the tipster who led to Schwarz’s arrest, calling her a ‘hero’.   

‘She took a great risk to alert the law enforcement authorities that this guy, this trusted doctor, is trying to murder somebody,’ he said. 

FBI agents went to McCulloch's Michigan home at around 4am Friday to deliver the unsettling news that Schwarz had been plotting to murder him. 'I couldn't believe it,' McCulloch told Detroit's WXYZ on Wednesday (above). 'I will tell you that I've been a lawyer for 35 years, and I've never run into people like this'

FBI agents went to McCulloch’s Michigan home at around 4am Friday to deliver the unsettling news that Schwarz had been plotting to murder him. ‘I couldn’t believe it,’ McCulloch told Detroit’s WXYZ on Wednesday (above). ‘I will tell you that I’ve been a lawyer for 35 years, and I’ve never run into people like this’

Schwarz was already the subject of an FBI investigation opened earlier this year for conspiracy to possess fentanyl. 

Agents said the doctor has ready access to the synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin. A fentanyl dose the size of a few grains of salt can be fatal.   

The case took a frightening turn earlier this month when the woman, a methamphetamine addict who met Schwarz while in drug recovery at a clinic in Findlay, Ohio, told police that he had talked to her about killing McCulloch.  

The doctor initially instructed her to buy a gun with a silencer, agents say, but later altered his plan. 

He allegedly wanted the woman to ‘accidentally’ bump into McCulloch in public and give him a ‘covert lethal injection’ of fentanyl mixed with Xanax, an antidepressant, according to court documents.    

Schwarz also suggested framing the murder on Meisner by planting fentanyl in his car. 

When FBI officials learned about Schwarz's alleged murder plot this month, the doctor was already the subject of an investigation opened earlier this year for conspiracy to possess fentanyl

When FBI officials learned about Schwarz’s alleged murder plot this month, the doctor was already the subject of an investigation opened earlier this year for conspiracy to possess fentanyl

The witness said she thought Schwarz was just ‘venting’ when he first posed the plot to her. 

When he grew more and more insistent about the idea, she decided to alert authorities on August 3. 

FBI officials interviewed her two weeks later, at which point she revealed that he had offered to pay her $2,000 to help with the crime.  

She agreed to wear a wire and to record her phone calls with Schwarz, who was caught on tape reiterating his plan.  

At one point he said that he only had enough fentanyl for one victim and asked the patient to get more for him.  

On August 22, she brought a fake package of fentanyl to Schwartz’ medical office outside Toledo. 

FBI agents listened in on the meeting as Schwarz described how the witness could ‘sprinkle’ the opiate on McCulloch’s neck and swirl a mixture of heroin and fentanyl into his drink at a coffee shop. 

He also noted that he’d found another man with a vendetta against McCulloch who offered to kill the lawyer for $10,000.  

After the meeting federal agents followed Schwarz to a gas station and arrested him. 

He was scheduled to appear at a bail hearing on Thursday but it was continued until September. 

Schwarz is currently in custody at the Lucas County jail.  

 

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