Charlotte-area man sentenced for scheming to put radioactive material on roommate’s food
To a resume that includes his years as an honor student along with a moral code that led his family to nickname him “Angel,” Bryant Budi can now add the following:
First person in U.S. history convicted of trying to buy radioactive material to commit a murder.
For that distinction, the 28-year-old Matthews man was sentenced by a Charlotte federal judge last week to 78 months in prison.
“I can’t apologize enough,” Budi wrote in a hand-printed letter in late November to U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad of Charlotte. “It was risky, senseless behavior, and I realized it as soon as the authorities prevented my intended misdeed. I truly thank God that no physical harm has occurred.”
Roommates often have falling outs. But court documents reveal that Budi’s dispute with his roommate festered for more than a year, and that he went to extraordinary lengths in the spring of 2018 to settle the impasse with violence.
“My enemy that I am trying to get has been making my life a living hell and extorting me for a year now,” Budi said in an April 2018 email to an undercover federal agent.
In his letter to the judge, Budi said his intended target had been his friend and business partner, whom Budi had taken in when the man became homeless.
“Soon his laziness and aggression (sic) behavior started to affect me mentally, financially and emotionally,” Budi wrote. “When I informed him I wanted to totally cut off our relationship, he retaliated by extorting me for his financial gains. Knowing that I love my parents and brothers very much, (he) made severe threats that he would put bullets in their heads if he didn’t get the money he demanded. I became very terrified and angry.”
In April and May 2018, prosecutors say, Budi went online to hire a hit man. Unwittingly, he offered $4,000 to an undercover Homeland Security investigator to do the job, complaining that the first killer he tried to line up had run off with his money while leaving his roommate very much alive.
“he is 30 years old, lives in apt in Charlotte,” Budi said about the target. “... goes only to dollar tree and gas station ... doesn’t know fighting skill. basically make it look like robbery went wrong. dont care what weapon you use, as long as you get it done.”
Then, Budi hedged his bets. Prosecutors say he returned to the same illegal market place on the dark web to shop for a lethal dose of radioactive material that he hoped to use to poison his roommate. He found a seller — this time an undercover FBI employee — who shipped an inert powder to the Charlotte address of one of Budi’s friends instead of the deadly material Budi wanted.
In an April 27, 2018, email to the FBI employee, Budi said he took matters into his own hands once before.
“i tried to poison him with something else,” he wrote, “but it tasted bitter as soon as he took a swig at it so he threw up.”
In his discussions about the radioactive substance, Budi peppered his supplier with questions, sounding like the engineer he had become after graduating from N.C. State University in 2014.
“how much is a lethal dosage? and how do i know that you have is radioactive not some water solution?” he asked in a flurry of emails in late April. “What’s the lethal dosage for a 250-pound man? I want to see if I can put on multiple food. can you put the money in the escrow until he dies.?”
Budi was arrested a month later. A year ago, he pleaded guilty in the first case of its kind in the federal courts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte says.
Budi and his family came to the United States in 2001 from Indonesia when he was a boy and settled in Wilmington. There, Budi excelled in the classroom and, as a devout Catholic, became a frequent community volunteer, according to court filings by the defense.
Budi’s parents and siblings, his friends, co-workers and bosses all appear stunned, saying Budi’s crimes were completely out of character. In a flood of letters to the judge, they spoke of Budi’s character, generosity and kindheartedness — how he once bought an Apple computer as a wedding gift but allowed another friend to take credit who had shown up with nothing to give; how he once volunteered to pay off $30,000 in student loans for his former girlfriend; how they’ve never seen him even raise his voice.
“I know Bryant has been charged with a serious offense, but I don’t think he’s had so much as a parking ticket prior to this,” an engineering co-worker wrote.
In his letter from the Mecklenburg County Jail, Budi likewise sounds confounded by his actions.
“I couldn’t imagine something horrible happening to my family. Unable to think clearly, I panicked and regrettably responded with punitive and unlawful intentions,” he wrote. I really don’t understand why I didn’t inform the authorities to get involved ... many people have been hurt, including my entire family.
“I can’t apologize enough.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Charlotte-area man sentenced for scheming to put radioactive material on roommate’s food."
