Nicholas L. Bissell Jr.

Nicholas Louis "Nick" Bissell Jr. (January 14, 1947 – November 27, 1996) was the county prosecutor of Somerset County, New Jersey who fled to Laughlin, Nevada, and killed himself in shame after being charged with embezzlement, tax fraud and abuse of power.[1]

Nicholas Louis Bissell Jr.
Born(1947-01-14)January 14, 1947
DiedNovember 27, 1996(1996-11-27) (aged 49)
Laughlin, Nevada
OccupationProsecutor
EmployerSomerset County, New Jersey
Spouse(s)Barbara Bissell
Children2
Parent(s)Nicholas Louis Bissell Sr. (1919–2002) & Louise Bissell

Biography

Born in 1947 to Nicholas L. Bissell Sr. (1919–2002) and his wife, Louise, Nick Bissell grew up in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, and later moved to Somerville, New Jersey. He entered private practice, then worked as a part-time judge. He then became an assistant prosecutor in Somerset County, and was appointed county prosecutor in 1982 by Governor Tom Kean. He held that position for 13 years.[1] His specialty was civil forfeiture. At one point, the value of the assets he seized were the highest in the state, even though Somerset County is the eighth-smallest county in New Jersey. One of his best-known cases that didn't involve a forfeiture was the prosecution of Matthew Heikkila, a 21-year-old from affluent Basking Ridge, who, on January 29, 1991, murdered his adoptive parents. Although Bissell pressed for the death penalty, the jury sentenced Heikkila to two consecutive life sentences.[2]

In 1990, a forfeiture case proved to be Bissell's downfall. On May 10, 1990, James Giuffre was arrested on charges of selling $700 worth of cocaine. Bissell said he would drop the charges if Giuffre forfeited two plots of land to the prosecutor's office, valued at $174,000. They were sold at auction below their appraised value to a friend of Bissell's chief of detectives. Giuffre filed a civil suit against Bissell (which the Somerset County Freeholders later settled for $435,000) and also then contacted the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI. Forensic accountants with the IRS discovered that Bissell skimmed cash from a gas station of which he was part owner. The FBI discovered that Bissell had destroyed a suspect's written request for a lawyer and threatened to frame his gasoline wholesaler for cocaine possession.[3]

In September 1995, Bissell was indicted on 30 federal charges of mail fraud, tax evasion and abuse of power, and was promptly fired by Governor and Somerset County resident Christine Todd Whitman. In May 1996, he was convicted on all charges and faced a minimum sentence of six to eight years in federal prison and a maximum of ten years. He was released under the condition that he wear an electronic bracelet until he was sentenced. He abruptly cut it off on November 18, 1996 and fled to Nevada, leaving a note in which he stated that he intended to commit suicide. He was tracked by his cell phone.[3]

He fatally shot himself after a 10-minute standoff in his hotel room, while members of the United States Marshals Service tried to lure him out of his room.[3][4][5]

References
  1. Glaberson, William (December 1, 1996). "In Prosecutor's Rise and Fall, a Story of Ambition, Deceit and Shame". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2007. When Nicholas L. Bissell Jr. put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger in a $20 room on a neon strip here, it was almost the cliche ending to an ambitious man's rise and fall.
  2. "Nicholas L. Bissell, Jr. profile". Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2006.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), CrimeLibrary.com; accessed January 26, 2017.
  3. Tim Golden (November 27, 1996). "Trapped, Fugitive Ex-Prosecutor Kills Himself in a Nevada Hotel". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2007. Nicholas L Bissell Jr., former Somerset County, New Jersey, prosecutor who fled to escape prison sentence for corruption and fraud, fatally shoots himself in Laughlin, Nevada, hotel casino as Federal marshal tries to coax him from room; ends 10-minute standoff after telling marshal who tracked him from New Jersey that he could not face prospect of spending next decade of his life in jail; Federal officials say he gave away whereabouts since fleeing home on November 18 by making cellular telephone calls to relatives and friends
  4. Glaberson, William (January 6, 1997). "U.S. Marshals Say Bissell Sought to Make New Life". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2007. Federal marshals say that when Nicholas L. Bissell Jr, former Somerset County Prosecutor, snipped off his electronic bracelet and fled his New Jersey home on November 18, it was part of careful plan to make new life as fugitive; say that he made certain preparations shortly before escaping rather than serve prison sentence on Federal charges of embezzlement, tax fraud and abuse of power; Bissell shot himself to death after being found in Nevada casino motel room.
  5. "Judge Rules U.S. Can Seize Bissell's Assets". The New York Times. August 16, 1997. Retrieved June 21, 2007. US District Court Judge Alfred J. Lechner rules that US Government can seize assets of former Somerset County, New Jersey, Prosecutor Nicholas L. Bissell, Jr., who was convicted in 1996 on Federal charges of embezzlement, tax fraud and abuse of power, which was posted as bail.Lechner says Bissell's flight was willful and there was (sic) no mitigating circumstances.
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