

STANHOPE — By phone, the two men reportedly discussed their plan to kidnap, torture and kill. They causally spoke of strangling and raping relatives, including children, authorities said. They allegedly talked of stun guns and Tasers and bantered about the fun of preying on unsuspecting victims and the best ways to dispose of bodies.

The demented dialogue was captured by the FBI over a period of months, authorities said, leading to the arrest of a former Sussex County undersheriff and a retired high school librarian.

Richard Meltz, 65, of Stanhope, the former undersheriff, and Robert Christopher Asch, a 60-year-old from Manhattan, were arrested earlier this week and charged with conspiracy to kidnap, according to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office.

"The bone-chilling conduct alleged in this complaint is a chronicle of sadism and depravity that includes the defendants’ very real steps to carry out their plans to kidnap, torture, rape and kill the women and children they targeted," said Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for Manhattan.

The two men, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, had been conspiring to attack several victims, including the family of a co-conspirator who wanted to kill his wife, sister-in-law, her children and his stepdaughter.

Meltz went along with the plan, authorities said.

"You want to hang the 9-year old," he allegedly wrote in an email. "I would rather manually choke her but hanging is nice also."

The feds listened in on a Feb. 22 phone conversation between Asch and Meltz as the pair allegedly plotted to kill a Hoboken woman, who was actually an undercover FBI agent.

"Well, it’s a very exciting proposition when you think about it," Meltz told Asch, according to the criminal complaint. "Can I strangle her?"

Meltz also told an undercover agent he wanted his wife killed, according to the complaint.

Melt’s attorney, Peter Brill, said his client had described himself as a “Walter Mitty-type,” who had an active fantasy life.

“He left it in the realm of fantasy but maybe he met up with people who thought it was real,” Brill said. “Admittedly, the fantasy world is a bit weird.”

Members of Meltz’s family did not return messages.

Meltz served several terms as a councilman in Byram Township, was a Sussex County undersheriff until 1996 and ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in 1998. He is currently chief of police for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the Bedford, Mass., Veteran Affairs Medical Center, the FBI said.

Meltz, according to the criminal complaint, touted his past experience killing women.

"As we said, murder is easy, getting away with it is not," he said in a phone conversation, according to the complaint. "The excitement and the adrenaline rush is incredible when you’re hunting some prey and they have no idea or concept that they’re being followed. They’re just in their own little nitwit world. They have no concept that within minutes or seconds they could be fighting a futile fight for their life."

It was the infamous "cannibal cop" case — the New York City police officer convicted of conspiracy to abduct, roast and eat women — that turned investigators on to Meltz and Asch, according to the FBI.

The co-conspirator, according to the complaint, was Michael Vanhise who was arrested Jan. 4 in Mercer County for allegedly hiring the "cannibal cop."

The FBI became aware of the emails Meltz, Asch and Vanhise exchanged and set up a sting operation. Two undercover agents posed as hitmen and met with Meltz and Asch, the FBI said. They planned to kidnap and kill a woman one of the agents picked out.

Meltz allegedly provided the "strategic advice" — and Asch provided the supplies, authorities said.

On Sunday, Meltz allegedly met with one of the undercover agents to discuss the kidnapping and murder. In a recorded conversation, Meltz allegedly advised the agent to dump the body in a desolate wooded area in upstate New York.

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The weather and animals would make the body unrecognizable before it was discovered, Meltz told the undercover agent, according to the criminal complaint.

On Monday, Asch met with the same FBI agent — bringing with him two bags of "tools" for the plan — including a Taser, rope, a meat hammer, duct tape, gloves, cleaning supplies, skewers, pliers, and a dental retractor, authorities say.

"Their actions were not confined to talking about these ghoulish plans," said George Venizelos, the FBI’s assistant director-in-charge. "They acquired the tools to accomplish the deed, including a Taser and the chemical means to anesthetize their victims. And they made detailed plans to use these instruments – plans that were foiled by the FBI’s intervention."

Meltz and Asch are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping – which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a maximum fine of $250,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Star-Ledger staff writer Dan Goldberg contributed to this report.

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