RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York (USAO) announced that 45-year-old Marion Lopatniuk was arraigned in federal court on Thursday on an indictment in a murder-for-hire case. The Rensselaer County man was taken into custody by the FBI in July 2025.
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The indictment against Lopatniuk alleges that he used Rensselaer County Jail phone lines to make a call offering another person $1200 to kill a man that Lopatniuk was familiar with. According to the USAO, Lopatniuk also reportedly offered to commit other murders and sell drugs in order to satisfy the debt of the initial plot.
Lopatniuk was first charged on July 2, 2025 and has been jailed since his arrest. Law enforcement confirmed that the original intended target of the murder was never harmed.
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“As alleged, this defendant was brazen enough to offer upfront payment in a murder‑for‑hire scheme, even going so far as to offer to commit additional murders as payment,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Sarcone III stated. “As a result of his plot, Lopatniuk now faces up to 10 years in federal prison. Thanks to the swift work of our partners at the FBI, the scheme was stopped before any harm could come to the intended victims.”
“The allegations against Mr. Lopatniuk illustrate his disturbing plot to arrange a murder, but his plans didn’t stop there,” said Craig Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office for the FBI. “According to the indictment, he also intended to carry out additional acts of horrific violence to forgive the debt his sinister plan would incur. Thankfully, the FBI stopped this evil scheme before any part of it could come to fruition, and now he’s facing serious federal charges that could send him to prison for a substantial amount of time.”
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In addition to prison time, Lopatniuk faces a fine of up to $250,000 and a potential term of post-release supervision of up to three years if convicted. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Collyer is leading the case’s prosecution…