CHELMSFORD – A Chelmsford man has been arraigned in connection with an alleged scheme to hire someone to injure or kill his wife.
Andrew Gordon, 51, of Chelmsford, was arrested Sept. 19 as part of a joint investigation by police from Chelmsford and Tyngsboro, State Police and the District Attorney’s Office. He was charged with soliciting, attempted assault and battery, intimidation of a witness and violating a restraining order.
Gordon allegedly attempted to pay an undercover state trooper posing as a hit man $20,000 for an attack on his wife in August, police said.
Though the plan originally called for her murder, Gordon allegedly asked the man to beat her so that she could not appear at a scheduled court hearing, police said.
“This could have been a very dangerous situation,” Chelmsford Police Chief James Spinney said. “Working in cooperation with Tyngsboro Police and other agencies we were able to avert more trouble very effectively.”
In June and July, Gordon learned his wife was seeking a divorce. In the following weeks, police say his wife’s car, along with vehicles owned by nearby residents, were vandalized.
Police contend that Gordon not only committed the vandalism, but allegedly spied on his wife’s apartment complex from a nearby woods with a ski mask and binoculars.
Gordon was arraigned Monday in Lowell District Court. Judge Neil Hourihan ordered him held without bail. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for October 21.
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