True Crime with Kendall Rae - Fake Veteran Plots Wife’s Murder With Motorcycle Gang?! The Death of April Kauffman

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

April Kauffman was described as part princess, part bulldog… She was beautiful, funny, charismatic, generous, incredibly philanthropic, and would stop at nothing to give back to the causes she believed in. One of the things she believed in most was helping Veterans. Her passion for helping Veterans is what drew her to Jim Kauffman, her third husband. But after 10 years of marriage, she wanted out. After finding out he lied about being a veteran and that he was running an illegal pill mill with a local motorcycle gang, April asked for a divorce. But rather than risk losing half of his net worth, Jim paid someone in that motorcycle gang to murder her. After years of her case going cold, her daughter pushed for justice and ultimately landed those responsible behind bars, thanks, in part, to a member of the gang who snitched. Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: 3 Day Blinds - For their buy 1 get 1 50% off deal, head to3DayBlinds.com/KENDALLRAE Nutrafol - promo code: KENDALLRAE Rocket Money ZocDoc Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today and if you're new then welcome. So happy to have you. So today guys, I'm going to be telling you about a case that I had personally never heard of and I was pretty shocked I haven't heard of this one, but so many of you had requested it through my case submission form, which if you didn't know is always linked

in the description box. And we're gonna be talking about the murder of April Kaufman. And the details in this case and how everything unfolded is, it's so absurd, it's so upsetting, it's angering, and it's one that definitely needs to be talked about. April Kaufman was a literal force to be reckoned with.

She was such a strong and powerful woman. She was a good-spirited person. She was compassionate and pathetic. And what happened to her is so hard to wrap your mind around the circumstances that led to her murder are so outrageous that it's almost hard to believe. And the amount of greed and evil involved in this case truly shocked me. And honestly, with how many cases I've covered, it takes a lot to shock me these days. There are so many ups and downs, twists and turns. It's really one of those roller coaster cases and there's a lot to shock me these days. There are so many ups and downs, twists and turns.

It's really one of those roller coaster cases and there's a lot to go over. So let's just go ahead and get into it starting with a background on April and who she was. April Christine Favazza was born on October 27th, 1964 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and her childhood was quite rocky. Her father was mostly absent from her life. and when April was only 11 years old, her mother placed her other four siblings into foster care, which, you know, can be extremely difficult. And April was left with that guilt and sort of heavy burden of being the only child that her mother decided to continue raising.

And April herself was primarily raised in her early childhood by her grandmother. And that's because her mom got involved in a lot of, how do I put this, toxic and concerning relationships with men that April should not have been around. And so luckily her grandmother was able to step in and take care of her a lot of her childhood. So to say that she didn't have an easy childhood is really an understatement.

I mean, things were really tough for her a lot of her early years, but I think a lot of that really built her into who she was. And when she was 17, her life started kind of turning around. And that's because when she was 17 years old, April gave birth to her one and only daughter, Kimberly. And it was the type of love that she had always longed for. And because she didn't have that motherly support growing up, she knew she wanted things to be different for her daughter.

And so she was committed to being the best mother that she possibly could for Kimberly. And I really believe that she lived up to that promise and more. And I know Kimberly would completely agree. After April dropped out of high school and got her GED, she started working right away to support them. And she started her career by training as a hairstylist and eventually went on to open her own salon as well as a catering business.

And if there's truly one defining characteristic of April, I would say that she was tenacious. If she had set her mind to something, nothing was going to stop her. She was determined and hardworking and believed in herself. And I actually read that a lot of people described her as part princess, part bulldog, which I really loved that. I think that's the perfect way to describe April Kaufman. And aside from having a great personality and great characteristics, April was also a very beautiful person, but her looks aren't everything that people remembered her by.

She was memorable because she was that type of person that if she had her mindset on something or if there was any cause that she was passionate about, then she would stop at nothing until her voice was heard. And a big way that April would vocalize her passions and belief and share other encouraging words for people out there listening was through her radio show. April actually hosted a weekly radio show in Atlantic City and sort of became a local celebrity there. And she was really known for being passionate about many different causes, but the biggest one that she advocated for was better treatment of our veterans. This was

something that was super, super important to her. She believed that those who serve our country deserve to be treated like superheroes. And it was really one of her missions in life to make a positive difference for anyone who did. If you don't vote, I will find out. I'm going to your house. I'm dragging you outside. Homelessness is a big, a big issue in our country right now for our veterans.

She regularly supported charities that focused on veterans' rights and was often chosen to speak at events where entire audiences were captivated by her words. In fact, she managed to get close with elected officials and government leaders in the area and had plans to affect a lot of positive change. And April was someone who was really respected and liked in her personal life, but also in her professional life as well.

There were many people who looked up to her, wanted to spend time talking to her. That's one thing her daughter really said is people loved talking to April because she was so interesting and passionate. You know, that spark that she had was really inspiring and interesting to people. She was kind of one of those people

who you talk to even briefly, even if you had just met her and you walk away feeling like she's almost your close friend. And those who really knew her And those who really knew her, and those who barely knew her, just spent some time speaking with her, said that her passion was genuine,

that they could tell she was the real deal and really stood by what she said. And just to give you an example of this, every Thanksgiving, April would host a dinner at her house for the recruits from the US Coast Guard Station in Cape May. So these young men and women who were, you know, unable to spend Thanksgiving with their friends and family were welcomed into April's home and treated as her family.

And it was through April's advocacy and charity work that she ended up meeting Dr. James Kaufman, who also went by Jim. And Jim was everything in a man that April was looking for, at least on paper. She'd actually been married two times prior. Those marriages didn't work out obviously, but Jim seemed to be the total package.

Not only did he tell her that he was a veteran, specifically a member of the Army Special Forces, but he also had the same passion for fast cars and motorcycles that April did. Which is something I haven't shared about her yet. April was definitely one of those work hard, play harder types of people. She enjoyed the fun in life.

She loved her red Corvette and her motorcycles, and I imagine she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie. And so here was Jim who was successful, who was an army veteran and also shared that same passion for motorcycles. I mean, Jim really loved motorcycles, which I will get more into. So it seemed perfect. So on Valentine's Day in 2003, the two of them got married and quickly became sort of a celebrity power couple of Linwood, New Jersey.

April was this beautiful radio host known for her charity work and veteran advocacy, and Jim was a wealthy and well-respected endocrinologist and, of course, like I said, a veteran. And over the years, Jim would often attend April's veteran advocacy programs and talk about having completed two tours in Vietnam. And he also frequently appeared on her radio show, speaking on behalf of veterans. But it wasn't long before some weird things started to happen with Jim. And one example is April's daughter Kim actually had to interview a veteran for a school project and she asked Jim to do it and he agreed

but what was strange is he told her he couldn't tell her mother which made no sense. And in that interview he told a story about having survived a brutal attack in Vietnam where everyone in his platoon was killed except for him and he survived by licking water off leaves while he waited to be rescued. And he also added this part about collecting all the dog tags from the fallen soldiers to bring home to their families. Which of course would be wildly heroic and impressive if it were true. Keyword, if. And of course I will explain what I mean by that here in a minute. But for the most part, on the outside, everything seemed to be perfect when it came to their lives and their relationships

and the people that they were. But as we all know, oftentimes relationships are not what they seem. Oftentimes, they are far from perfect, even some of the better relationships out there. But it didn't take long until close friends and families started to see the cracks in their relationship, especially April's daughter, Kim. Kim and her mom were incredibly, incredibly close. I mean, April having her at age 17 really meant that they sort of grew up together. That's one thing Kim has really talked about is she not only was her mother of course but she also saw her as her best friend and her sister in a lot of ways and she truly admired her and They just had a really really special bond. And so of course

Kim was able to learn a lot about the inner workings of her marriage and her being so close to the relationship meant that she saw a lot of things that other people didn't and she saw a lot of concerning behavior from Jim and one of the most concerning behaviors was that he was a very controlling person and I mean that. So I am someone who needs to sleep in absolute darkness. I cannot stand when a little bit of window light is getting in in the morning. It just instantly wakes me up.

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slash Kendall Rae one last time that's the number 3 day d-a-y blinds.com slash Kendall Rae. Kim says that Jim controlled all aspects of April's finances, despite the fact that it was her money, of course, her money that she worked for. And he would do weird things like turn off the lights in a room that she was clearly still using. So there were little things like that. He seemed to be jealous of her oftentimes, that people were so enamored by her and he didn't like the spotlight not being on him at all times. But there were even more concerning things, I would say. One of those being that a neighbor was made aware of the fact that

things weren't going well between them and April actually showed this neighbor bullet holes in the living room where Jim had shot his gun during a heated argument, which is obviously a giant red flag and totally terrifying. And that's really one thing you got to know about Jim right away is that this man loved his guns. He was really a self-proclaimed tough guy. And the ego on this dude was astronomical. And one of the most important things to Jim in life besides his guns was money. He wanted to be perceived as someone who was rich,

who was powerful, who was the leader like the man of the house type situation. And it drove him fucking nuts that many people saw April as the leader of their household. I think in a lot of ways he was just threatened by her. And this is interesting. One thing that really drove him nuts is a lot of people referred to him as Mr. April.

So I can't imagine that was good for his ego. It seemed like he was truly threatened by April's success and how well liked she was. Like they would go to parties and events and people would want to speak to her and he couldn't stand that if that were the case and he started feeling like in the shadow, he would want to leave. So even though he tried to be this powerful man, he really had such a fragile side to him that really couldn't take being with a successful, powerful woman, which is just one of the things

about him that made him a coward. And he wasn't just a coward, dude was also a big liar. And I say that because it turns out that Jim, this heroic veteran, had actually never served in the army at all. He had made the whole thing up and was telling lies about it for over a decade. And one day April found out about it.

Now this wasn't only devastating to her on a personal level. I mean, to find out that this person you're married to and really respected ended up lying to you about such a massive detail in their life. But professionally speaking, she also had big concerns that her credibility would be tainted because of what he had done. I mean, she is this advocate for veterans and bringing him on her radio show, sharing his stories.

And turns out it was all a lie. And she knew if people found out about that, that not only would he obviously look horrible, but people could perceive her in a bad light as well. This wasn't like an ego thing for her. It wasn't a way that she just wanted people to see her as caring for veterans. She truly did. This was a big passion for her.

She ultimately decided that she wanted a divorce because of it. But of course, Jim did not want that to happen, probably because he didn't wanna be outed to some degree, but the biggest thing was because he didn't wanna have to give her half his money in a divorce. And of course, in true crime, we see this all the time where people, rather than just getting a divorce,

sucking it up and understanding that you do have to, you know, sometimes split all of your earnings with your partner, they will resort to extreme measures. Now it's estimated that Jim's net worth was approximately $4.6 million and apparently it wasn't an option in his mind to let April have any of it. So when she came to him and told him that she wanted a divorce, his answer was straight up no, absolutely not. You are not divorcing me and you are sure as hell not going to take half of my money.

So at some point, April goes to lunch with her daughter Kim and tells her all of this and she specifically tells her that Jim told her that he would go nuclear on her if she ever left him or tried to take half of his money. And not only that, she also told her that Jim told her he would kill her before he ever let her take half of his money. Now, Kim always said that her mom would tell her

that he would never actually have the guts to go through with it, but unfortunately he did. Because this is April we're talking about and because she wasn't going to sit back and do nothing, she threatened to expose Jim for a pill mill that he was operating out of his medical office, which of course I will explain the pill mill a little later, but I mean, really April just needed a way to get out of this relationship somehow. And so if he wasn't going to give her a divorce, she was going to go to the police. And so what did he do in response to that?

Well, he devised a plan to have her killed, which brings me to a huge element of this case and that is the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Club. Now, just picture any motorcycle gang that you've seen in any TV show or movie, and that's the Pagans. They were a bunch of big, tough guys wearing matching jean vests and riding around on motorcycles doing less than legal activities. Now, I do want to say not all motorcycle gangs out there or clubs are doing illegal things. A lot of them actually out there are doing good things and we love that for them. But the Pagans have been linked to organized crime in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York. But for the sake of this case, I'll mostly be talking about the Kate May chapter in New Jersey.

This chapter of the club was led by President Andrew Glick, who will end up being a big central figure in this case, but more on him in a minute. But first, I wanna talk about Jim's connection to the pagans, which, as you probably could guess, had to do with the pill mill that he was operating. Now, I'm sure a lot of you out there know what a pill mill is already,

but for those of you who don't, it's essentially where a doctor will prescribe pills like painkillers and other medications to people who don't need them. And then those people will go on to sell them for a lot of money out on the streets and in illegal markets, things like that. Or they'll just take them themselves. And as you can imagine, things like this have made the opioid epidemic in America so, so much worse. According to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the prescription of opioids in the United States quadrupled between the years

2000 and 2010. And during that time, there was sadly a 300% increase in opioid related deaths. And obviously, it's gotten much worse since then. But I bring up this time period because it was the approximate time where Jam was running his pill mill and the Pagans were his customers. Members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club, as well as their girlfriends and associates, became heavily involved in this operation and everyone was making a lot of money. And there are a few people in particular who are very important to this case who were especially

involved. And that was Ferdinand or Freddy Augello and Andrew Glick. Now like I said earlier, Andrew was the president of the Cape May chapter of the Pagans, but Freddy was sort of like his mentor. He taught Andrew everything he needed to know about being a Pagan and the two of them were about as close as two members could be. And among the many things he taught him, Freddy taught him the most cardinal rule of being a Pagan, which was to never rat on a brother.

And no matter what the crime was, how serious it was, or how violent it was, pagans never told on other pagans. And I'm sure you can all imagine what would happen if you did rat on another pagan. Which of course meant things like the pill mill had to be kept very discreet. And all things considered, things were going pretty smoothly for them.

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Freddie Augello. Now like Andrew, Freddy was also a leader among the pagans and if Freddy wanted something done he made it happen and this included having April killed. Jim offered Freddy $50,000 to kill his wife and was explicit that he wanted her dead because he didn't want her taking his money or risk their operation being exposed. And rather than do it himself, Freddie decided to outsource another member of the Pagans to do it for him at a cheaper price. His brilliant plan was to keep 40 to $45,000

of that 50,000 to himself and then find another Pagan who would be willing to do it for five to 10,000. And at first, hard to imagine, no one was down. Now, Andrew himself was well aware of what Freddy was trying to do, and he didn't try to stop it and he wanted no part of it. So for months, no one in the pagans wanted to do this. I mean, for many different reasons, of course, but I had imagined a big part of it was why would they get paid five to $10,000

for actually doing it? And the guy who has nothing to do with the actual murder himself gets to take 40 to 45,000. Doesn't really sound like something anyone would agree to. But after a while, there was one person who agreed to the job. However, this person wasn't technically a pagan himself, a man named Frank, who was known around town as the junkie. And when Andrew found out about this, he said

that he thought it was a terrible idea for Frank to do it because of his struggles with addiction, knowing that if he got caught, there was a good chance he'd rat them all out, especially because he wasn't a official member of the Pagans. But of course, Freddie didn't care about any of these concerns. He just wanted to get his big payday. So he contracted Frank to do the job. And on Thursday, May 10, 2012, he actually went through with it. Just after 5am that morning, 47 year old April Kaufman was asleep in bed, of course, having no idea what was about to

happen to her, and Jim was getting ready for work and left before the sun came up. He stopped by Wawa, a local convenience store, on his way to the office and everything seemed to be business as usual. That is until a few hours later when April was found face down on the floor of her bedroom. And her body was found by a man named Billy Gonzalez, who she had hired a while back to help take care of her pet birds. That's another thing I haven't mentioned. April was a big animal lover and loved birds.

Billy says that on the morning of May 12th, he received two calls from Jim asking if he could go over to the house to check on April. And Billy thought that this was a really strange out of left field request because Jim had actually never called him before, but he cared about April so he decided to go over there and check things out. And of course, when he got there, he found a horrific scene. He found April's body and he was the one to call 911. And April had been shot twice, once in the elbow and once again through the side of her rib cage, which pierced her lungs and her heart and ultimately ended her life. Now according to Jim, the reason he called Billy to go and check on April is because

She wasn't answering his calls according to him He would call her every morning at 830 and she didn't answer and he became concerned and wanted someone to go check on her No, I think we can all agree and I've said this in other episodes before That it is truly fucked up to send an innocent person who has nothing to do with any of this over to a house when you know that they are going to walk in on such a traumatizing scene to see someone in that condition murdered. I mean, it's truly evil to send someone unsuspecting over to witness something like that The fact that he full well knew what he was about to walk in on and just sent him

Anyway, just says so much about Jim's character But is it surprising considering the man he is absolutely not but anyway Billy ends up calling Jim and tells him the state that he found April in. And that's when Jim goes ahead and makes his own call to 911. This is Dr. Kaufman. I just got a call from my house person that my wife is spaced out on the floor. My partner's sending out the email as we speak. Okay. Okay.

I'm just, yeah, I'm getting there fast as I can. Detective Michael Mattioli was among the first to arrive to the scene, and he had the displeasure of interviewing Jim who over the course of a few conversations gave varying accounts of his story. For example, at one point he claimed to have run upstairs and checked for a pulse on April and another time he said he ran upstairs but that he never actually touched her. And to be clear neither of these stories are true because Billy, who was there,

said that once Jim came back to the house, he never actually went upstairs once. Also, a neighbor said that they saw Jim standing outside of the house, and it looked like he was waiting for police to show up. And according to this neighbor, when police did end up turning onto their street, Jim saw them, and then he ran

into the house and quickly as they pulled up, he ran back outside, absolutely hysterical, making a huge scene. And he really did put on quite the performance for the police. He collapsed onto the lawn, which is super strange, but everything about this case is super strange. And of course, the question on everyone's mind is who would want to kill April Kaufman? I mean, she was super, super loved and admired in the community.

Well, two people at the scene knew the answer to that and one was Jim, who sure as hell wasn't going to give himself up and the other was her daughter Kim. And from the second that she got the call from him that her mother was dead, Kim knew exactly who was responsible. And she did not hesitate to let investigators know. She told them that if they

wanted to find the person responsible for her mother's death, they needed to look into Jim. But he wasn't named a suspect. Not at first. And not for quite a long time. The fact that he was seen on surveillance footage entering the Wawa at the same time it's believed that April was murdered apparently was enough for investigators to determine that he couldn't have been the one to shoot her. Which of course, yes, most likely he wasn't the one to shoot her considering there's footage of him somewhere else during that time. But come on, y'all know that you can still be involved in a murder without actually

being the one to pull the trigger. And so for many years, Kim's murder remained unsolved and Jim told Kim that it was going to stay that way. And for a while it looked like that really might be the case. April's funeral was held at Beth-El Synagogue in Margate and her service was absolutely packed. More than 500 people showed up and there were many people who wanted to speak at the service, people who spoke so lovingly about the woman who had always given back to her community. And Kim was forced to sit alongside the man that she knew was responsible for her mom's murder

and had to listen as he had the audacity to say that he was always Mr. April and didn't know what he was going to do without her. But aside from having to sit next to Jim, which I truly cannot imagine how awful that would be and listen to his lackluster attempt to, you know, seem like he was grieving the death of his wife, really for the most part, the day was filled with people who truly loved her and were there to support and honoring her life. And moving forward, Kim never let her mother's memory be forgotten. She held vigils in her mom's honor.

She was constantly doing things to make sure that, you know, people really knew the woman that she was. She said, the person who murdered my mom took her away from me, but they can't take away my hope. And luckily Kim held on to that hope for a very long time and eventually it did pay off. Atlantic County prosecutor Jim McLean seemed both uninterested and unmotivated to solve this case despite the fact that Kim spent months and then years pushing for answers. So on top of the devastation she felt over losing her mom, she had to bear the weight of knowing that nobody was trying

hard to do anything about it and really take on that role or advocate. And that's something that always blows me away about families of these victims is in their time of grief and despair. So many of them are able to step up and fight back. And I just don't know if I would ever have the courage or the strength I should say to do that. I mean, that's just something no family member should have to do. But Kim, just from the clips I've seen of her

and interviews with her, she is just like her mom. I mean, she is a fighter. She is strong. She is powerful. She believes in herself and she is not going to give up. And Jim was off scot-free. You know, he had no reason to look over his shoulder. And so he moved on with his life and kept living it well. And a year after she was killed he was already auctioning off her belongings and getting married again to real big red flags If I were to ask you how many active subscriptions you have would you be able to tell me a number off the top of your head probably not and if you had asked me before I started using rocket money I would have thought I had a general idea

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subscriptions saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's features. So stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Once again, that's rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Once again, that's rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. It was like April never existed to him and her death didn't impact him in the slightest. And the only thing left tying him to her

was the fact that he was trying to cash out on her $600,000 life insurance policy. And when Kim found out about this, of course, she was like, oh, hell no, there's no way I'm going to let my mother's killer get a cent off of her death. And that's when she came up with the idea to pursue a civil lawsuit against him. She knew that he had to be involved. She knew that he did it. She just needed help proving it.

And so that's when she turned to a law firm to help her. This law firm really stepped up. They agreed to help. They really supported Kim. And not only were they helping her keep Jim from getting that life insurance money, but they also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him, which was genius because when they did that, they were able to schedule a deposition where he would have to answer questions under oath and on camera. Mind you, this is two years after the murder was committed and it was the first time that he was questioned under oath. And during this a few things were uncovered and most importantly out of those things was the fact that Jim ended up saying that there's a possibility the Pagans were involved in April's murder.

Who do you think did it? I thought it could be someone who was one of the veterans. The last choice was someone in a motorcycle gang. What motorcycle gang? The Pagans. Now, the strategy that Kim's civil attorney had was to collect any and all evidence they could find and hand it over to investigators. And the hope with that being that if they did the heavy lifting, there would be no other

option but for this to be pursued as a criminal case, not just civil. For example, one of the things that they turned over was Jim's phone records. And in those phone records, they found a history of calls being made from Jim's phone to a burner phone. And those calls just randomly stopped the day before April was murdered, which obviously they believe there had to be a connection there. I mean, what are the chances? It's just a total coincidence those calls stopped to a burner phone the day before she's

killed. I don't think so. And luckily, this strategy paid off. So then in 2017, a new county prosecutor took over the case and he, Damon Tyner, did in a few months what Jim McClain failed to do in five years. And that was actually push for this case to be solved. Tyner put an investigator on the case

who was known for being tough and he truly did a fantastic job. And by this point, there was definitely a lot of talk about the Payne's being involved in April's murder and talk about the fact that Jim wanted her dead. But the one major drawback was the evidence. They needed something more concrete to make an arrest. Luckily for them though, the FBI was already looking into Jim for unrelated charges. It turns out that in addition to running his pill mill, Jim was also suspected of committing

insurance fraud. And what's good about this is they can essentially charge him with one thing and then in the meantime collect more evidence to charge him with the other. And on June 13th, 2017, the feds and local authorities showed up at his office to execute a search warrant. Now, this did not go as they anticipated. They planned on going in, seizing some documents, and leaving. But what actually happened was far more dramatic.

When the agents attempted to execute the warrant, Jim came out of his office with a gun, threatening to unalive himself and saying that he wasn't going to jail for something he didn't do. And had he taken literally two seconds to hear the agents out, he would have realized that they weren't there about April's murder, as he clearly thought they were. They weren't even there to arrest him. They were there to seize documents related to the insurance fraud and only that. But now that he was acting completely unhinged, waving his gun around and threatening to take

his own life, arresting him was exactly what they did. Jim was taken to the local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation of course, and from that point forward he remained in police custody. And that's because agents found a lot more than just incriminating documents in their search. After searching both his office and his home, they seized several illegal weapons and more than $100,000 in cash, which was likely attributed to one of the many schemes that he was running. So on top of the other pending charges, Jim was now facing several weapons charges, which

allowed them to keep him behind bars. And what's interesting is even though Jim had no prior record and no reason really to not be released on bail, the judge denied him that opportunity, which was a miracle really, and we love him for that. And that means from June 13th on, he remained behind bars, which like I said earlier, gave investigators more time

to collect evidence. So let's talk about what investigators knew at this point. They knew that of course Jim had mentioned the pagans in his deposition, and they also knew that he was filling prescriptions for them for oxy to several different pagan members and their associates. So they were connecting the dots here that a lot of them had to be involved in this pill mill operation. Investigators then believed that through the relationship Jim established with the gang over the years that he was able to solicit April's

murder. But what they didn't know at this point was who exactly he worked with to make that happen. And so of course their best hope to figuring out that information was to find a pagan member who was willing to cooperate, which of course would not be an easy task because remember the cardinal rule for the pagans is never rat on a brother. Thankfully though, there was one member who cared more about staying out of jail than the cardinal rule and that man was Andrew Glick. And I do need to rewind a little bit here on our timeline to bring this all back full circle, so stick with me.

Back on the morning of May 10th, 2012, when April was killed, Andrew said that when he woke up and saw the news, he knew that it was over for them. He knew that the police were going to link it back to the pagans eventually, and it was only a matter of time before they came knocking on his door. To his surprise though, for a while that didn't happen. Weeks turned into months, months turned into years and during all that time no one was arrested, which really shocked Andrew. And so with all that time having passed with nothing happening, he became less and less concerned.

And what eased his concern even more was the man who actually killed April, Frank, had actually died. And I'm sure this will not surprise you to hear at all, but he actually died from an overdose of pills that were prescribed to him by none other than Dr. Jim Kaufman. And if you're thinking that maybe that was intentional on Jim's part, you're probably right. We're not 100% sure on that, but apparently Jim told Freddie, who told Andrew, that he took care of the junkie so they didn't have to worry about him anymore. And because Frank was dead and because the case seemed to go cold, everyone else who

knew about the murder pretty much moved on with their lives. Freddie spent the money that he got from Jim on a bunch of equipment for his band, and Andrew continued dealing drugs and working his day job as a chef. And for a while, it seemed like they may actually get away with it. But of course, that all changed when Jim got arrested, and Andrew put himself in the middle of the investigation, quite literally. It turns out that after Jim's arrest, Andrew called the prosecutor's office,

asking if he could stop by to pick up his medical records. He knew from watching the news that they had seized a bunch of records when they executed that search warrant, and he wanted to go and pick his records up. And this was such a gift to investigators, they saw this as the perfect opportunity. They knew who Andrew was,

they knew that he was a member of the Pagans, and so when he came into their office, Investigator Jim Scopa ended up holding him for questioning. And at first they got nothing out of him, which isn't totally surprising. Of course, he didn't wanna snitch on any of the brothers, so he stayed silent and there was no reason to hold him there, so he was allowed to leave.

He was warned though, that they were confident they were eventually going to catch April Kaufman's killer and that he would be better off if he worked with them rather than against them. But of course he did not listen. Not only that, he kept dealing drugs and put himself in a terrible position where he obviously would eventually be caught. And on November 1st, 2017, FBI agents and officers from the prosecutor's office raided Andrew's home after finding pounds of drugs and piles of cash and they arrested him for

real this time. And whether or not he was willing to talk about the murder, he was going to be faced with a mountain of other charges. Luckily for investigators though, Andrew was willing to cut a deal and talk, but not right away. And after refusing to give up any information on the murder at the FBI field office, he was taken to the county jail where he sat for six days.

And after those six days, he was released on bail, but he knew he would not be free for long because he was facing up to 40 years for those drug charges. And so what did he do? He called up Jim Scopa and he told him that he was ready to talk. You know when you get cornered by that person at the family gathering that you feel like you have to kind of bend the truth when you're talking to them? You know the one that asks when you're getting married or what's going on with that promotion or why you still haven't moved out of mom and dad's basement,

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That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash Kendall Rae. ZocDoc.com slash Kendall Ray, zocdoc.com slash Kendall Ray. And on November 16th, Andrew Glick gave a full recorded statement, not only giving up the details regarding April's murder, but also everything related to the pale mill. He confirmed that Jim was illegally prescribing oxy to members of the pagans and that through this operation, Freddie Agello was taking a cut of all transactions. He also said that Freddie was the one who had orchestrated the murder with Jim

and shared the details of how they eventually made it happen. And for as much as this sounds like a slam dunk at this point that they can just go and arrest Freddie, investigators still wanted more. If they were going to take him to trial, they wanted more than just witness testimony. They wanted a recording of him talking about the murder. And so Andrew agreed very reluctantly, of course, because he's, you know, breaking that cardinal rule to wear a wire and go talk to Freddie. And starting in November of 2017, Andrew wore a wire in 14

meetings with Freddie in order to get that irrefutable evidence. And it wasn't easy to get him to talk about the murder. He was definitely suspicious that Andrew was wearing a wire and several times he would ask him about that and Andrew would assure him that he definitely wasn't. And Freddie would say things to him like, oh, you know, you're right, man. You know, you always have my back. You're one of my best friends. You're one of the most trusted people I have in this world, which obviously made it harder for Andrew. And by this point, Jim

was behind bars and he knew that Andrew had also been arrested and released on those drug charges, so it wasn't like he was just going to openly talk about the murder. He did, however, talk about how there was one more loose end that needed to be tied up, and that was Jim. Freddie was worried that he was going to cut a deal with prosecutors and turn him in for a lesser sentence for himself. And so what was his plan to prevent this? I'm sure you can guess, he wanted to have him killed.

Freddie told Andrew that he wanted to have Jim killed in jail and that he was going to make that happen with the help of his friends in the mafia. Surveillance footage even showed Freddie at meetings with the people that investigators believe were being contracted to do the job. And when his plan ultimately fell through, Andrew stepped in with a solution of sorts. While he was wearing a wire, Andrew tells Freddie that he can have Jim taken care of with the help of his friends in the Mexican cartel. He told him that someone was going to inject Jim with a syringe full of fentanyl,

but it was going to take some time to coordinate. And what was good about this solution and pretty obvious since he was wearing a wire is that he wasn't actually going to have Jim killed, but he was going to convince Freddy that he was. This would keep Jim safe, so obviously he could be held accountable later on, but it would incriminate Freddie for being part of it. And with this, they

finally had enough evidence to make an arrest. And so on January 9th, 2018, Freddie Augelo was arrested and charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and racketeering. And that same day, Jim was finally charged with both murder and racketeering. And that same day, Jim was finally charged with both murder and racketeering. Today, James Kaufman, age 69, and Ferdinand Augelo, age 62, were charged with murder in connection with the death of April Poffman in addition to racketeering related to the illegal distribution of narcotics through Kaufman's former medical practice. Additionally, Augelo is charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of James M. Kaufman.

Upon information and belief known to my office, an individual named Francis Frank Mulholland was paid a sum of money to kill April Kaufman. Almost 18 months after April Kaufman's murder, Frank Mulholland died in October of 2013 by at the time what was determined to be an accidental rug overdose. Through our investigation, we determined that a long-term alliance between members of the Pagan Outlaw Motorcycle gang and James Kaufman was created for the mutual financial gain through the use of Kaufman's medical practice

for illegal drug distribution. This relationship ultimately culminated on May 10, 2012, with the murder-for-hire of April Koppel. Prior to 2011, defendant Kaufman and Ferdinand Augelo had a relationship which centered around the medical practice. And then the summer of 2011, James Kaufman solicited Augelo to murder his wife.

And following these arrests, Kim spoke out at a press conference. And as you can imagine, she felt so much relief knowing that her mother's murder was finally solved and that justice was on the horizon. And I just have to say I truly have so much admiration for Kim. The fact that she never gave up and really honored her mother's tenacity and spirit by fighting so hard for so long. She just seems like a really amazing person. Super, super tough. I just don't know how she did it for so long.

And she just knew from the beginning that Jim was involved in some way, and she found a way to make sure that he didn't get away with it. You know, May 10th, 2012 forever changed my life. I have been waiting patiently for justice, and today I was lucky enough to be granted justice. I do understand that this is going to be a very long process, and this is by no means over. I think for the first time today, I can actually breathe. For the past five and a half years,

I have felt like I've been holding my breath on a daily basis. I couldn't even begin to describe to you today the emotions that I feel. I feel like I'm standing before you and I'm shaking. I want to really take time to thank my attorneys here at Darcy Johnson Day. And most importantly, these two men that stand beside me, they have been like my guardian angels. They stood by me when it wasn't popular and when, you know, I didn't really know that I was ever going to obtain justice. They have fought for me since day

one and I am forever grateful for these two gentlemen. This firm has believed in me and allow me the platform to speak up and stand up for justice for my mom. And the arrest did not stop there. Six other people were arrested and charged with drug distribution and racketeering. Authorities say they believe these individuals were sent to Jim's office by Freddie and that he received up to $1,000 per visit. Multiply that by hundreds of visits, and Jim was definitely raking in the cash

with this whole scheme. Federal authorities also linked him to the insurance fraud scheme that I mentioned earlier, which was also earning him thousands of dollars on the side of his already successful medical practice. So to say that he was facing a lot, a lot of prison time would definitely be an understatement. And they also had to transfer him to a different local jail while he was awaiting trial because

they were afraid that if Freddy and him were put together that Freddy may try and kill him. Which considering he did try to have him killed in the past, this probably was the right move. And less than two weeks later, Jim was back in court. On January 18th, Jim appeared back in court. And let me tell you, in just a span of a few months, this man looked like he had aged like 50 years. He was hunched over and looked like he could hardly nod his head yes or no when the judge spoke to him. And he ultimately didn't detest the ruling

that he would remain behind bars, but he did still maintain his innocence. As for Freddie, it was also ruled that he had to stay behind bars until trial. However, he and his lawyers did try and protest this. Unsuccessfully, I might add. Because of course, Freddie is a clear threat to the community considering the fact that he had already orchestrated one murder and had been arrested while he was trying to orchestrate a second.

As we all know, though, justice does take time and it was going to be a few months before either of their trials began. But, and this pains me to say, there only ended up being one trial because on January 26, 2018, Jim ended up taking his own life while in his jail cell. And of course, the reason I say it pains me to say that is not because he's dead. I mean, whatever, but it's the fact that he was not held accountable in the end, that there was no justice when it comes to Jim. And in doing so, he left behind a six-page note

where he denied any involvement in April's murder, even stated that she was the one who introduced him to the pagans, essentially blaming her for getting involved with them, even though there was no proof. And really, it makes no sense why she would have connected them with him. I mean, come on, it's just ridiculous. And to still, even after you're going to take your own life, try and say that you had nothing to do with this. It's just sick. I mean, that's the very least that you could give her loved ones, especially Kim, who really cared about Jim at parts in her life.

I mean, she talked about when he took his own life how painful it was for her, even though obviously she hated him and... I mean, I can't imagine what a mixed bag of emotions that would be, but she said that he really was a big part of her life and meant a lot to her in some ways. And even though she had all this hatred and understandable anger against him, it still was just shocking and hurtful and especially hurtful that she wouldn't be able to see him face what he did. Kauffman and alleged co-conspirator Ferdinand Augello were ordered to remain detained until trial. It would be the last time that Kaufman would appear publicly.

Friday morning, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office stated that Kaufman was found dead in his Hudson County jail cell. Sources tell eyewitness news that the apparent suicide was carried out using a bed sheet. So Freddie Augello's trial began on September 17th, 2018, and among the many who testified against him was Andrew Glick. Andrew's testimony lasted a whopping five days, and his testimony was obviously super crucial, as was all the recorded evidence against Freddie that they collected through the wire.

And a guy named Joseph also testified against Freddie, and he was among those who was arrested and charged back in January. And he actually was part of the conspiracy to commit murder. Joseph was the person who drove Frank to April's house that day and pleaded guilty and testified in exchange for a lesser sentence. A different pagan member named Joseph also testified that Freddie tried to ask him to commit the murder in the fall of 2010, which just added to the evidence against Freddie's leadership in the whole scheme. And if I sat here today and went through all of the evidence

and testimony, we would be here for hours. So let me just skip to the most important part. And that is that he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years. And Freddie will have to remain behind bars until he's eligible for parole in 55 years, which will not happen because he would be 117 by then. So yeah, ain't no chance he's getting out ever.

Today, Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLorey sealed the fate of Ferdinand Freddie Augelo for his responsibility in the murder-for-hire scheme of April Kaufman on May 10, 2012, by sentencing him to life in prison plus 25 years. If he survives, Augelo will be approximately 117 years old before he is eligible for parole, which will all but ensure he will spend the remainder of his natural life behind bars for the crimes that he committed. Now, as for Andrew, he received no jail time and all charges against him were dropped in exchange for his cooperation. And despite walking away from all of this unscathed, he said he did not feel good in

the end being an informant. And he's kind of an interesting person to listen to. There's like documentaries and interviews on him and he's just like kind of all over the place in my opinion. In the end, he was just really upset that he broke the cardinal rule of being a pagan, and he really got dragged through the mud for that. Like tons of people in the pagans just hate him to this day and call him a rat and whatever. But one thing that really does bother him a lot lot and he's trying to come to terms with,

and he will always have to live with this, is the fact that he didn't stop April's murder when he had every opportunity to do so. And so I'm really curious to hear what you guys think. Do you think it was fair that he got no jail time? Because at the end of the day, I mean, you can make the point that if he didn't choose to cooperate,

that no one would have been held accountable. He definitely was a crucial piece in getting Freddie locked up. But at the end of the day, he knew that April was going to be murdered and he didn't do anything to stop it. Not to mention he was dealing drugs and he was part of the pill mill operation. So it's it's tough. I mean, in my opinion, I think there should have been some sort of accountability, like definitely a lesser sentence for cooperating. Obviously, that's really valuable and has to be

rewarded in some way. But I think just walking away with nothing, it makes no sense to me. But maybe you disagree. Maybe you think that his cooperation deserved full immunity. I want to hear from you. Regardless, though, at the end of the day, even though it took way too long, April did get the justice she deserved. And I'm really, really happy for Kim that she can hang her hat on that at the end of the day. And a lot of that was because of her

and how hard she pushed. Freddie being sentenced to life in prison was the best possible outcome Kim could have hoped for. But like we hear from so many families, it doesn't change the fact that her mom was taken from her. At the end of the day, nothing will bring her back. And that is something that I can't imagine living with. Kim says that she misses her mother's smile, her laugh and her wisdom.

And that as great as it is to have those responsible guilty, like I said, it doesn't bring her back. Like I've continued to say, I really do have the utmost respect for Kim. And she's just a testament for, I I think so many other people out there who are fighting against the justice system that is broken in so many ways. And I mean, you can really apply to anything in life that you should never, never give up. She did whatever she could to make sure that at the end of the day, the people who were responsible for her mother's murder were held accountable and it paid off. Unfortunately, Jim wasn't able to be held accountable, but I mean, at least he's no longer alive and he can't hurt anyone else.

And so this week in April's honor, I wanted to make a donation to Community Hope, which is the largest nonprofit serving homeless veterans and families in New Jersey. And I chose this charity because of the dedication that she showed to veterans in her community. And I really felt like this was the best way to give back in her honor. Community Hope works to address the underlying source of veteran homelessness, which includes high rates of mental illness, trauma, and substance abuse. Their Hope for Veterans program has rescued more than 6,000 veterans and their families from experiencing homelessness. And they offer programs such as suicide prevention, support services for veteran families, women veterans housing and more.

Their mission is to be a beacon of hope within the community and connect veterans and their families with life-changing support, services and housing that foster independence and resiliency. I love what they stand for. And I know that April would love it too. And as always, I'll have their website linked in the description if you would like to make a donation yourself maybe for a veteran in your life or for April. At the end of the day, what happened to April

was so unnecessary, so horrific, and really came down to the greed of a man who didn't want to part ways with his money which is unfortunately what we see in so many of these cases. It's so hard to understand I see comments from you guys all the time that you know why not just get a divorce and oh it's just it's so frustrating man. I just will never wrap my head around how killing someone who you must have loved at some point in your marriage right and someone who is a

mother seems like a better option to you than getting a divorce and potentially losing some of your money. It seems like a better idea to you to risk life in prison and to live with that guilt for the rest of your life. I just, like I said, it just will never get it. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon but until then stay safe out there.