Psycho Shrink Guilty

As reported in the NY Post
(See also this report in NewsDay)

A Long Island psychiatrist charged with conspiring to buy a gun and silencer to kill six people and feed them to sharks has surrendered his medical license and will avoid more jail time by seeing a shrink himself. In a Mineola courtroom yesterday, Dr. Richard Karpf, 52, of Great Neck, signed away his license to practice medicine as part of his plea bargain to avoid 25 years behind bars. He plead guilty to one lesser count of gun possession, and the other charges — including conspiracy — were dropped. Nassau County Judge Donald Belfi asked Karpf what he did for a living and Karpf replied he was a physician. "Former," his lawyer Stephen Scaring corrected him.

"Former licensed physician in the state of New York," said Karpf. He admitted he "possessed a loaded .22 automatic pistol" on Jan. 8, 2003, after purchasing it, along with a box of bullets and a silencer, from an undercover cop. Karpf had asked a male patient to help him get a gun to kill several people. He was caught on tape saying he wanted to shoot them at point-blank range, put their bodies on his boat and feed the chopped-up corpses to sharks.

The patient put his shrink in touch with the undercover officer. Court papers filed by the defense said police had confiscated a list from Karpf titled "Motives for Murder," as well as "White Shark Research Papers." Belfi said he'll sentence Karpf on Sept. 14 to the three months he had served in jail before posting his $1 million bail. The judge warned the former doctor that if he got into trouble or stopped receiving psychiatric care, he would be slapped with a seven-year jail sentence. Karpf declined to comment. The defendant was examined by psychiatrists for the defense and prosecution.

"Mr. Karpf has some significant [psychiatric] issues — both psychiatrists came to that conclusion," prosecutor Robert Biancavilla said after the court proceeding. Biancavilla said it could not be proven that Karpf had targeted specific people, and the former shrink may have even made the "victims" up.

A former female patient, who believed she was targeted because she threatened to reveal an alleged affair between them, filed a civil malpractice lawsuit against Karpf, which is still pending. The woman's lawyer yesterday said she was outraged Karpf got off lightly. "At least he won't be practicing medicine," said lawyer Ruth Bernstein.

Bernstein said her client "has been extremely fearful from the time he got out of jail." Police had told her she was targeted by Karpf, said Bernstein.