ST. LOUIS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced a felon to life in prison for arranging the 2011 murder of a St. Louis County man to get a share of an insurance payout.
Judge Fleissig ordered the sentence to run consecutive to the 226-month federal prison sentence Michael Grady is already serving for aiding a large-scale, violent drug conspiracy by trying to determine who was cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.
Grady, now 71, was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in March of one count each of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, aiding and abetting murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Evidence and testimony at the trial showed that Grady hatched the plot against Charles Harris III to aid Harris’ financially struggling fiancée, Victoria Rena Williams.
In 2010, Grady prompted Williams to get a $250,000 accidental death policy on Harris, evidence and testimony showed. She did so without Harris’ knowledge, after confirming that it would pay out if he was killed during a robbery. Williams then arranged a meeting between Harris, who worked for an alarm company but sold suits out of his home on the side, and the shooter or shooters, who posed as suit customers. On Oct. 5, 2011, Harris was fatally shot in his home on Langford Drive in St. Louis County. After a dispute with the insurance company, Williams received $224,444 and then obtained a cashier’s check for $110,000 payable to Grady’s wife. Williams also received $175,762 from another insurance policy.
The shooter or shooters have not been identified, according to trial testimony.
“Charles Harris was a hardworking man. He was a good man,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj, one of the prosecutors who worked on the case, in court Wednesday. “Mr. Grady is the polar opposite.”
Williams, 68, pleaded guilty to the same charges that Grady was convicted of and was sentenced in March to 225 months in prison.
"This is not the first time the FBI has investigated Michael Grady. He is currently serving a 19-year federal prison sentence for providing long-term support to some of the St. Louis area's most prolific and violent drug traffickers," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "But a prison sentence was never going to shield him from accountability. When evidence of his involvement in this murder surfaced, the FBI and St. Louis County Police remained steadfast in our commitment to securing justice for the victim and ensuring Grady answered for this crime."
The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Finlen, Nino Przulj and Donald Boyce prosecuted the case.
