Pastor Confesses to Murder for Life Insurance

An East Baltimore pastor who worked with a non-profit organization confessed to the horrific murder of a legally blind and disabled man for $1.4 million dollars in life insurance policies.

Thirty-four-year-old, Kevin Pushia pleaded guilty to hiring a hit man to kill Lemuel Wallace after he took out seven life insurance policies on Wallace listing himself as the beneficiary.  According to an August 27, 2010 press release provided to The Fraud Report by the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, Wallace was under the impression he was being moved to a better facility where he would be around individuals closer in age, but instead, he was being set up for murder.

According to the press release from the State’s Attorney, “Between 9:50 and 10:00am, an Arc employee received a phone call at the Maryknoll house line. The man on the other end said that they were coming to take Mr. Wallace to a potential new home and that they would be there in about a half hour. Shortly after 11:15, a man arrived at the Maryknoll house and said he was there to take Mr. Wallace to his new house. Mr. Wallace, excited at the prospect of finally moving into a new place, happily walked out to the parked car, escorted by the man.”

Wallace’s body was later discovered by police officers in a public bathroom in Leakin Park. After a call from a life insurance investigator from Globe Life Insurance Company, the murder plot soon unraveled. According to Pushia, he and his co-defendant, James Clea, paid a hit man $50,000 to lure the victim into a bathroom where he was shot several times.  According to court documents, the $50,000 dollars to fund the “hit man”was from insurance coverage of a 2007 fire that occurred at a church Pushia operated.

Pushia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and seven counts of insurance fraud on Friday and could face life behind bars or the death penalty.  Co-defendant, James Clea, faces similar charges and is scheduled to be tried in November, while the alleged “hit man” still remains at large and his name has not yet been released by the State’s Attorney.