The wife of real estate developer Brooks Kellogg sat quietly in U.S. District Court in Denver on Monday as an FBI agent described how her husband’s mistress betrayed him and told agents that he was involved in a murder-for-hire plot.
The 72-year-old won’t be allowed to go home to Chicago or Steamboat Springs because U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen Mix decided Kellogg is a danger to the community and returned him to the federal lockup, denying bail.
The judge said that if the allegations against Kellogg are true, “they are the acts of a desperate person.” Kellogg was bound over to stand trial.
He is charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill Stephen Bunyard, a man whose companies sued Kellogg and his corporation over a real estate deal and was awarded $2.5 million.
In October, Kellogg’s mistress, Barbara Blackmore, called Bunyard’s attorney and told him of the plot. The attorney called police.
Blackmore, 47, then told the FBI that Kellogg wanted Bunyard dead or seriously injured and that she was acting as a go-between for him and a hit man.
But no hit man had been hired, FBI Agent Kenneth Jackson testified Monday. Blackmore was communicating with Kellogg through her e-mail accounts and pretending to be her husband, Rickie Strong.
To test her information, the FBI arranged a phone call between Kellogg and Blackmore in which he agreed to meet Strong at Denver International Airport.
Instead, an undercover agent pretending to be Strong showed up and arrested Kellogg after he handed over $2,000 with instructions to kill Bunyard, Jackson testified.
“Was there any wavering?” prosecutor Wyatt Angelo asked Jackson about the intent to have Bunyard killed.
“There was no wavering and no conditional statements,” Jackson said. “Mr. Kellogg appeared quite calm.”
Agents taped the undercover agent’s conversation with Kellogg at DIA, but the recording malfunctioned, Jackson testified.
Larry Pozner, Kellogg’s defense attorney, said Blackmore can’t be trusted because she has a lengthy criminal history involving fraud, writing bad checks and manufacturing drugs.
Blackmore has received at least $30,000 from Kellogg since they met online in 2007 by manipulating him, Pozner said during the hearing.
Kellogg also bought his mistress a home, several cars, a trailer and a trailer for her daughter.
Blackmore told the FBI that she had received $6,000 in a wire transfer to her bank account for the hit, but Pozner said the money transfers from Kellogg to Blackmore had nothing to do with a murder-for-hire plot.
Pozner also tried to raise doubts about Blackmore’s claims because she refused to turn over her computer to the FBI so they could examine the e-mails and instant messages that outlined the purported plot.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
