Carlile murder plot mastermind faces 40 years after guilty plea
James Henrikson, the man who ordered the killings of two business associates tied to the oil-field business in North Dakota, faces four decades in prison after pleading guilty Friday afternoon.
Henrikson admitted ordering the deaths of Kristopher “K.C.” Clarke and Doug Carlile, employing Timothy Suckow as the hit man both times. Federal prosecutors will seek a 40-year prison term when Henrikson is sentenced in December.
U.S. Attorney Mike Ormsby signaled after the hearing that Henrikson, 36, could receive a lesser sentence if he assists in locating the body of Clarke, thought to be buried on state park land near Watford City, North Dakota.
Helping to find Clarke’s body was not part of the plea deal, Ormsby said. But defense attorneys have the ability to argue for a lesser sentence, and finding the remains of the man who went missing in February 2012 could bolster their efforts.
“(Henrikson) knows that,” Ormsby said.
Other conspirators in the deaths have received sentences between eight years and 30 years, including Todd Bates, who pleaded guilty to charges earlier Friday in exchange for a prison sentence of eight years and four months. U.S. District Court Judge Salvador Mendoza will have the final say on Henrikson’s sentence, as well as all other co-conspirators after they signed plea deals in the weeks leading to a planned Oct. 5 trial date in Richland.
Carlile was killed in his South Hill home in December 2013. Henrikson admitted Friday that Clarke was killed in February 2012, bludgeoned to death by Suckow in Henrikson’s North Dakota truck shop.
Jill Williams, Clarke’s mother, said she could not attend Friday’s hearing in Spokane because of a back injury. She was informed of the plea deal Thursday by phone and said she was shocked.
“It’s not justice,” Williams said. “He caused the death of two people. Forty years is not anywhere near enough.”
Members of the Carlile family filled the first two rows of the gallery in Mendoza’s courtroom. Elberta Carlile, who called 911 the night Suckow shot and killed her husband, cried silently when Henrikson matter-of-factly described his role in the killing.
“I contacted Robert Delao, to contact Tim Suckow, to kill Doug Carlile,” Henrikson said.
Carlile family members declined comment after the hearing.
Bates, appearing for the fourth time to enter a guilty plea Friday morning after Mendoza rejected his earlier attempts, said there was no reversing what had been done.
“I just think that it’s too late now,” Bates, clad in a white Spokane County Jail jumpsuit and leg irons, said as members of Carlile’s family looked on. “I’m a man of God, and I believe that the truth shall set you free.”
Bates pleaded guilty to purchasing heroin in Chicago for Henrikson and soliciting a would-be hit man nicknamed “The Wiz” to kill Jed McClure for $25,000 at Henrikson’s direction.
Bates told Mendoza he traveled to Chicago and gave the would-be hit man $10,000 as a down payment for the job. The man never intended to kill McClure and took no steps to do so, intending instead to rob Bates, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Jones said.
“He said it was the easiest $10,000 he ever made,” Jones said.
Bates said he also traveled to the “south projects” of Chicago and bought pure heroin at the direction of Henrikson and Robert Delao, another man indicted in the conspiracy.
“We were going to go from this to 100 kilos,” Bates said.
The pleas of Bates and Henrikson end an investigation initiated at the local level by Spokane police shortly after Carlile was shot and killed in his home at Garfield Road and 25th Avenue while his wife hid in an upstairs bedroom closet on Dec. 15, 2013. Spokane detectives called Henrikson that night and questioned him, based on statements by Carlile’s sons that Carlile feared his 36-year-old business partner might turn violent.
Henrikson initially denied involvement, but he told police that Carlile, a self-employed contractor with ties to Moses Lake developments, owed him nearly $2 million.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aine Ahmed told Mendoza during the hearing Friday that the investigation revealed no evidence that Carlile had taken money from Henrikson, who has felony convictions on his record for drug-related charges.
Investigators pieced together a web that showed Delao had been contacting Suckow and Bates directly about contract killings and assaults on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and elsewhere. These included offers of money to kill Tex Hall, the former chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations. Investigators say Henrikson impregnated Hall’s daughter, who would have been called as a witness at trial.
Three men pleaded guilty in the case earlier this month. Prosecutors will recommend a 30-year prison term for Suckow, the hit man. Delao pleaded guilty to nine federal counts, including involvement in setting up the Carlile murder, and is expected to receive a 14- to 17-year prison sentence. Lazaro Pesina, who was present outside the Carlile home when Suckow killed Carlile but said he didn’t realize it was going to end in murder, pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge. Prosecutors are recommending a 12-year sentence for him.
Henrikson’s ex-wife, Sarah Creveling, has been indicted on federal fraud charges in North Dakota related to her business dealings with Henrikson. Henrikson’s attorneys said Friday the plea deal prohibits federal or state authorities from pursuing additional charges against their client.
Sentencing for Henrikson has been set for Dec. 18 in Spokane. Williams, the mother of Clarke, said she hopes Mendoza will hand down a lengthy sentence.
“If he is let out in a short time, there are people that will be in danger,” she said. “Society will be in danger.”