MAYS LANDING — Seven years after the murder of local veterans advocate April Kauffman, the last defendant charged in a case connected to her murder and a related opioid drug ring was sentenced Thursday morning.
John “Egyptian” Kachbalian, 56, a retired Pagans motorcycle gang leader, was sentenced to four years’ probation, followed by 364 days of jail time, with 44 days of credit for time already served.
It was the last court hearing currently on the books tied to the murder of Kauffman, who was fatally shot in her Linwood home in 2012.
Prosecutors successfully argued during a September trial that April’s husband, James Kauffman, plotted to kill her after she threatened to expose an opioid ring he ran with Ferdinand “Freddy” Augello, a retired member of the Pagans, out of James Kauffman’s medical practice. James Kauffman, 68, was found hanged in his Hudson County jail cell weeks after being charged.
Kachbalian, of Egg Harbor Township, pleaded guilty last month to witness tampering in the case after being charged with invasion of privacy and cyberharassment. Posts on his Facebook account have called co-defendants in the Kauffman case who took a plea agreement “rats.”
One of the posts was of a sexually explicit photo purported to be of co-defendant Beverly Augello, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess drugs in the case and agreed to testify for the state.
Kachbalian also is barred from using Facebook and having any contact with Beverly Augello. When asked by Judge Bernard E. DeLury whether he wanted to say anything before sentencing, Kachbalian declined.
In October, Freddy Augello, 62, a sign maker from Upper Township, was found guilty of April Kauffman’s murder. He was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison with 55 years of parole ineligibility in December.
Five of Augello’s former co-defendants, including his ex-wife Beverly Augello, who took pleas in the case, have been sentenced.
The only loose end in the case is that of the alleged hitman, Francis Mulholland. Officials allege Freddy Augello paid Mulholland to kill April Kauffman. Mulholland was later found dead of an overdose in 2013 in his Lower Township home.
Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland confirmed in December his office was investigating Mulholland’s death.
Capt. Mike Emmer of the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed Thursday the investigation was still active but could not provide further details.
Defendant verdicts in the April Kauffman murder case(tncms-asset)b6392052-77d1-11e9-8ba4-00163ec2aa77[4](/tncms-asset)
