Councilman turns tipster in hit man case
Bail bondsman Kubosh told HPD he feared client was planning a death
In the latest twist to a case that has made international headlines, an investigator said Wednesday that Houston City Councilman Michael Kubosh — a professional bail bondsman — alerted police to an alleged murderfor-hire plot involving a prominent Montrose veterinarian and her boyfriend scheming to kill their exes.
Kubosh, who supplied the bail bond on a stalking charge for Leon Phillip Jacob, told police in February that he was troubled by Jacob’s comments about the case, Harris County district attorney investigator Jimmy Turpin said in court.
The councilman said after the hearing that he believed Jacob was asking for help in a covert plan to eliminate the witness against him.
“He told me that he paid somebody quite a bit of money to take care of this matter,” Kubosh said. “I felt like he was trying to implicate me in something.”
Kubosh, who has been a councilman since 2013, became alarmed and contacted Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo.
The new details emerged during the hearing as state District Judge Jim Wallace considered — then rejected — a request that Jacob be released on bail.
Jacob has remained in the Harris County Jail since he was arrested earlier this month with his girlfriend, veterinarian Valerie Busick McDaniel, on charges of solicitation of capital murder. If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison.
McDaniel, who was released on $50,000 bail, killed herself Monday by
leaping from her seventhfloor condominium in River Oaks.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Turpin detailed the allegations and named Kubosh as the man who got police involved.
Turpin testified that Jacob told Kubosh he had paid a man named Zak to find a hit man to get rid of his ex-girlfriend so she would not testify against him. Jacob believed Zak was a former Kubosh client, and said he hired the councilman in hopes of getting a current phone number for Zak.
Police traced the old phone number to a former Kubosh client, who police say served as the middleman. He has not been charged with any crime.
The middleman worked with authorities to introduce Jacob to an undercover police officer masquerading as a hit man, Turpin said. ‘Very persistent’
The couple met with the man at an Olive Garden on Buffalo Speedway, where they plotted to have Jacob’s ex-girlfriend and McDaniel’s ex-husband killed, investigators said. Police staged a crime scene with the intended victims to offer photos as proof the pair had been killed.
The pair was arrested after seeing the photos and paying off the supposed hit man with $20,000 in cash and two Cartier watches.
Jacob told the undercover officer that he may need his services again in the future, Turpin testified.
Kubosh said after the hearing that the case has been very stressful for him and has kept him up at night.
“He was very persistent,” he said. “I was afraid that someone was going to get hurt.”
Kubosh said he also met McDaniel because she was a co-signer on Jacob’s bond after he was arrested on the stalking charge. She asked Kubosh to take her name off the bond after she was arrested on charges of solicitation of capital murder.
Jacob, a washed-out surgical resident with a history of stalking and domestic violence accusations in Texas and Illinois, appeared in court in an orange jail uniform.
Defense attorney George Parnham touted Jacob’s medical school education and ties to the community. Parnham said Jacob had worked as a transplant physician but was selling health insurance when he was arrested. He did not testify. ‘Danger to society’
A day after McDaniel killed herself, Jacob filed a request with the court to leave jail to attend the funeral. Wallace denied the request. On Wednesday, Wallace ruled that Jacob would remain in jail without bail.
Prosecutor Nathan Moss argued that Jacob was free on bail for two other charges when he was arrested on charges of trying to kill the witness in those cases. He labeled him a “danger to society” in asking the judge to deny bail.
After the ruling, Wallace called Jacob to the bench to clarify his attorney of record. Parnham had apparently been hired by the family, while lawyer Paul Morgan had been hired by Jacob.
Asked whom he wanted as the lead attorney, Jacob shrugged.
“My life is on the line and I would like them to work together,” he said.