Cops: Ramapo podiatrist, girlfriend plotted to kill wife
Co-defendant Kelly Gribeluk is an Airmont resident whose child-custody battle with her former husband had made headlines in the Jewish press.
RAMAPO - A podiatrist and his girlfriend plotted to kill his wife and have two insurance investigators looking into his business beaten up, town police said Tuesday.
UPDATE: Police: Probe expands into podiatrist facing murder for hire charges
Police arrested Ira Bernstein, 42, and Kelly Myzner Gribeluk, 35, Monday night following a month-long investigation they said was sparked when the person the couple reached out to about killing Bernstein's wife initially reported the plot to the Spring Valley police.
Ramapo Detective Lt. Mark Emma said Bernstein and Gribeluk thought the man they approached had the connections they needed. He called the man "an exceptional citizen" for reporting what happened.
"This person had some sort of relationship with one of them," Emma said. "They asked him to cause injury to Bernstein's wife to result in her death. They made an assumption he could help them. He doesn't do those things."
Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugible, called the plot "a despicable plan to take the life of a wife and mother essentially for financial gain."
Bernstein, records show, has lost two malpractice lawsuits since 2014, totaling close to $2 million in judgments.
The Bernsteins, who have three children, were getting divorced, officials said. Gribeluk, who lives in Airmont, is divorced and has three children of her own who do not live with her.
Bernstein and Gribeluk were arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Ramapo Town Court. Justice Thomas Newman set bail at $600,000 for each, over the objections of their lawyers.
Bernstein's defense attorney Kevin Conway, argued he was not a flight risk, noting he had family and property in the area, plus his business.
Gribeluk's court-appointed lawyer, Jay Golland, said the lifelong Rockland resident, a real estate agent, did not have the means to post bail.
Police said Bernstein and Gribeluk are also accused of seeking to have two United Healthcare insurance investigators beaten up, allegedly because they were going to refer potential fraud charges involving Ira Bernstein's podiatry business to the Rockland District Attorney's office for investigation.
Prosecutor Richard Kennison Moran said the case was strong and included video, audiotapes, and wiretapped telephone conversations, as well as an exchange of money on several occasions.
Moran said Gribeluk had "made admissions to detectives as to her role in the matter."
Police charged both with felony counts of second-degree conspiracy, second-degree solicitation and fourth-degree conspiracy, and a misdemeanor count of fourth-degree solicitation.
Emma said at an afternoon news conference that Gribeluk was the brains behind the operation. He said the person she approached was asked to reach out to someone else to have Susan Bernstein killed and make it look like an accident.
Grideluk and Ira Bernstein met with her contact several times, with the couple also eventually adding the request to have the two insurance investigators roughed up.
Ramapo police, as part of the investigation, had someone put makeup on the insurance investigators to try to fool Gribeluk and Bernstein into thinking they had been assaulted as requested. The go-between showed photographs of the "injured" investigators to the pair, at which point they discussed further the plan to kill Bernstein's wife, officials said.
The pair were "cold" and unemotional during the meetings with the go-between, police said.
Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel said a key concern in the investigation was making sure that while the two were being strung along they did not find someone else to kill Bernstein's wife.
Ira Bernstein has operated podiatry offices in Ramapo and Bardonia.
A Rockland County jury found Bernstein negligent in 2015 when it awarded $1.4 million to a 12-year-old girl for injuries when he operated on her for bunions and fused her growth plates, leaving her foot deformed and unstable during a growth spurt. The girl's lawyer argued the operation was unnecessary.
In 2014, Bernstein forked over $775,000 to a Nyack woman after a botched bunion operation on her feet when she was 16. The woman is now a teacher and reportedly can't stand without pain.
Gribeluk's child-custody battle with her former husband made headlines in The Jewish Week. She's a former Satmar Hasidic Jew from Monsey who claimed her former husband abused her. Guillermo Gribeluk’s attorney, Eric Thorsen, told the newspaper that his client “vehemently and unequivocally denies” the allegations of abuse.
Gribeluk, who police said also goes by Heidi Morris, was raised in a secular home and became religious at age 21. She claimed Rockland Family Court Judge Sherri Eisenpress favored her ex-husband to maintain her three children's religious upbringing.
Her case became a rallying cry for religious parents who lost their children in custody fights.
Golland, her lawyer in the criminal case, said she has visitation rights with her children, citing it as one of her local ties.
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