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Press Release

Smith County Man Sentenced For Attempted Arson, Solicitation Of Murder For Hire

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Texas

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

          TYLER, Texas – A 43-year-old Tyler, Texas, methadone clinic owner has been sentenced to federal prison in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

            Edward Jacobs pleaded guilty on Dec. 18, 2012, to attempted arson and solicitation of murder for hire and was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.

            According to information presented in court, on Mar. 19, 2012, Jacobs gave Daniel Kubisty $3,000 to burn down the Add-Life Recovery Center, a methadone clinic located in a building at 3322 E. Fifth Street in Tyler.  Jacobs and Kubisty conspired to burn down the building in order to gain a competitive advantage for the Methadone Clinic of East Texas, which was owned by Jacobs and also had an office in Tyler, Texas. On Mar. 19, 2012 Kubisty was arrested in Tyler by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and was found to have a gasoline can, with a wick saturated in gasoline protruding from its neck, in the back of his pickup.

            After Kubisty’s arrest, Jacobs feared Kubisty would testify against him and on June 1, 2012, he arranged a meeting with a man he believed he could hire to murder Kubisty in order to prevent Kubisty’s testimony.  During the meeting, Jacobs offered to pay the hit-man $12,000 for Kubisty’s murder.  ATF was monitoring the meeting and arrested Jacobs at the scene. 

            Kubisty pleaded guilty to attempted arson on Jan. 19, 2013 and is awaiting sentencing.

          This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.

Updated March 12, 2015