A Baltimore pastor who worked with developmentally disabled people was charged Friday with befriending a blind and disabled man in his care, then paying a hit man $50,000 in church funds for an execution so he could collect life insurance money.
Police say Kevin Jerome Pushia, 32, who worked for four months as an operations manager for the Arc of Baltimore before abruptly quitting in January, confessed to plotting to kill Lemuel Wallace.
Pushia told police he persuaded Wallace and "numerous" other mentally challenged individuals to list him as a beneficiary on insurance policies.
A terse notation in Pushia's planning calendar for Feb. 5, the day after Wallace was found dead in a Leakin Park bathroom stall from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and back, reads: "L.W. project completed," police said.
Pushia was in custody while police look for other possible victims and examine whether Pushia had been plotting similar killings, said Maj. Terrence McLarney, commander of the city homicide unit. "We have a lot of work left to do," McLarney said, adding that the case remains open.
Wallace lived in a group home in the 4500 block of Maryknoll Road associated with the Arc, which provides resources for people with developmental disabilities.
Wallace had been involved with the organization for about 10 years and worked through an employment program as a janitor.
He was more independent than his peers and often went on walks, ran errands or visited family, police said.
"Lemuel did very well for himself - he was very capable in many ways," said Karen McGuire, advancement director for the Arc.
On Feb. 4, police said, someone identifying himself as an Arc employee picked Wallace up. It was the last time he was seen alive.
Detectives handed out fliers in Wallace's neighborhood and visited places he was known to frequent, but they had few solid leads.
On March 31, an agent for Globe Life Insurance contacted police, saying that Pushia was listed as Wallace's brother on a $200,000 policy, Detective Robert Ross wrote in charging documents. The agent was making a routine check to make sure Pushia was not a suspect in the death.
He wasn't at the time, but the call gave police a new lead. They searched Pushia's newly built townhouse in Frankford and found the planning calendar and numerous insurance policies in Wallace's name that Pushia had applied for on the Internet, according to records.
