July 30, 2021- 3:11 p.m.
Louisiana healthcare millionaire pleads guilty to kidnapping plot against his ex-wife, which was unraveled when the two kidnappers he hired DROWN while trying to escape police with the woman in the back of their van.
In August 2017, two men – Sylvester Bracey and Arsenio Haynes – went to Schanda’s house to kidnap her.
They put a bag over her head, tied her up, threw her in the back of a van and left.
Handley had hired them while he was high on meth and cocaine, according to his lawyer. It’s unclear why Handley wanted to kidnap his ex or whether he planned to kill her.
After putting Schanda in the back of their van at gunpoint, the two kidnappers drove off, but ended up in traffic.
Rather than wait, they pulled onto the verge of the road and caught the attention of a deputy sheriff who began chasing them.
During the chase, they veered off the road and ended up in a swampy area.
They then exited the van on foot, leaving Schanda tied up in the back, and as they ran, they decided to jump into a canal where they later drowned.
He’s a recovering alcoholic, sold his health care company for $21 million in 2015, two years before filing for divorce from his wife, Schanda.
The pair both claimed that the other had tried to have them killed.
Handley’s lawyer said he was high on methamphetamine and cocaine when he came up with the kidnapping planHandley was arrested four days later after police tracked him to a hotel.
He had chartered a plane and had plans to leave the country. He has been in prison ever since.
He pleaded not guilty to insanity to multiple charges and claimed insanity, but in 2018 a judge ruled he was mentally fit to stand trial.
On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count of attempted second-degree kidnapping as part of a plea deal.
He is now between 15 and 35 years behind bars.
Before taking the plea deal, he faced a life sentence on an aggravating kidnapping charge.Handley made his fortune with companies that sold vitamins, among other things.
In 2015, he sold his group of recovery addiction centers operating across the South for $21 million.He is a recovering alcoholic himself, according to The Clarion Ledger, and as his marriage deteriorated, he started taking drugs.
Handley and Schanda married in 2006. It’s unclear why their marriage fell apart, but multiple restraining orders were filed in 2017 involving both.
He claimed she was trying to have him killed.His lawyer told reporters that he wasn’t thinking clearly when he planned to have her kidnapped because he was high on methamphetamine and cocaine.
“It certainly wasn’t logical thinking, but if you use a lot of meth and cocaine, I think it seemed rational to him.“It turned out to be a terrible decision,” Kevin Stockstill told reporters.
She said he had “lost his mind” to drugs. Handley has yet to be convicted.
