Thursday, December 15, Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles, California and Berk Eratay, 36, of Las Vegas, Nevada, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a murder-for-hire conspiracy and the January 6, 2018 kidnapping and death of Gregory Davis, a resident of Danville.

Federal authorities say the wire fraud charge was added to existing murder for hire conspiracy charges against Gumrukcu and Eratay and Jerry Banks, 35, of Fort Garland, Colorado and kidnapping charges against Banks. The defendants’ arraignment on the second superseding indictment is scheduled for December 29.

As described in Count 3 of the second superseding indictment, Gumrukcu and Eratay, in connection with business dealings with Davis, devised a scheme to defraud Davis and other person by attempting to deceive them about the amount of money available to Gumrukcu and his associated entities as well as the identities of individuals involved with Gumrukcu.

The wire fraud charge in the second superseding indictment carries a maximum sentence of twenty years. The murder for hire conspiracy and kidnapping charges carry a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.