Police: Man tied to Nev. bodybuilder case tried to hire hit man

Date: 21-10-2006 Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A former cellmate of bodybuilder Craig Titus has been charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill three witnesses in Titus' high-profile murder case.

Titus and his wife, Kelly Ryan, are charged with murder in the December death of their personal assistant, Melissa James, 28.

According to police reports obtained Friday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nelson Ronald Brady Jr. of Las Vegas was arrested this week on three counts of solicitation to commit murder. Detectives allege in the reports that Brady met with an undercover detective posing as a hit man in May, then paid $1,500 as a down payment to have the three potential witnesses in Titus' murder case killed.

Police reports identified two of the targets as Megan Pierson Foley and her husband, Jeremy Foley. The pair, who are considered key witnesses in the case, told a grand jury that Titus and Ryan had made incriminating statements about James' demise.

A third target of the plot, according to police reports, was Anthony Gross, who is charged with helping Titus and Ryan dispose of James' body.

Authorities said that they had not charged Titus or Ryan in the murder-for-hire plot. The couple is scheduled to go to trial in January.

Clark County prosecutor Robert Daskas declined to comment when asked whether anyone else would be charged. Daskas said that Brady and Titus were once housed together at the Clark County Detention Center and that police had recorded phone calls between the two men.

According to police reports, in March police developed an informant at the detention center named Deem Cassim. Cassim is jailed for the December 2004 robbery of 2004 World Series of Poker champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer outside his Bellagio Hotel room.

Cassim told homicide detectives that he had been approached by Brady, a fellow inmate, "for the contract killing of Anthony Gross and the possible contract killing of two other witnesses in the case against Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan," police reports state.

Titus' defense attorney, Marc Saggese, said Titus had nothing to do with any plan to kill witnesses in his case. Saggese described Brady as a drug-addicted loner who was acting on his own.

The attorney said he does not believe Titus will be charged.

Ryan's attorney, Greg Denue, said his client has had nothing to do with Brady.

In December, James' body was found in Ryan's burning Jaguar off state Route 160.

Titus, 41, and Ryan, 34, are celebrities in the fitness world. Titus is a past place finisher in the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition and Ryan is one of the most accomplished female fitness athletes in the nation.