Woman gets 10 years for plot to have daughter's ex burned alive

Pa. woman paid an undercover state trooper $1,000 to kill the man, telling him to "burn him alive"

TRENTON -- A Pennsylvania woman who admitted she tried to hire a hit man to kill her daughter's ex-boyfriend and two others was sentenced Friday to 10 years in state prison.

Denise Marie Nagrodski, of Easton, paid an undercover state trooper $1,000 to kill the man, telling the fake hit man to "burn him alive."

Denise Marie Nagrodski, 52, of Easton, Pa., was sentenced to 10 years in prison for arranging with an undercover detective to kill her daughter's ex-boyfriend and two others, state authorities said. (Courtesy of N.J. Attorney General's Office) 

Nagrodski, 52, claimed the ex-boyfriend had physically abused her daughter, causing her to have a miscarriage when she was pregnant with twins. Authorities said she hired the detective to kill the man, and to shoot the ex-boyfriend's sister and his sister's boyfriend twice in the forehead each, "one for each twin."

The State Police foiled the plot after receiving a tip from the New York City Police Department last year that Nagrodski was looking to hire a hit man, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

A detective from an organized crime unit within the State Police met with Nagrodski at the Phillipsburg Mall in Lopatcong, authorities said. There, she told the detective she wanted all three victims, who lived together in Somerset County, shot and killed, but she could not provide a gun.

Ultimately, authorities said, she agreed the hit man should "bash in" their heads and set the home ablaze.

"Once you step out of the car, this is on," she said, giving a down payment of $500, according to police. "I need it done."

At a second meeting, on Nov. 25, she gave the undercover detective photos of the victims and a map to their home, along with another $500. She was arrested as she drove away, authorities said.

"If Nagrodski had succeeded in her gruesome plot, three people would have been murdered in horrific fashion," acting Attorney General John Hoffman said Friday, adding that investigators "saved lives."

Nagrodski was arrested in November and pleaded guilty on June 25 to charges including attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. She was sentenced to 10 years, including eight and a half years of parole ineligibility under the No Early Release Act, by Superior Court Judge Robert Reed in Warren County, authorities said.

An attorney for Nagrodski could not be reached Friday.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.