Pediatrician accused of trying to have her ex-husband killed is ordered to stay in jail

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The pediatrician charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill her ex-husband will be remain in jail.

A federal magistrate judge Tuesday ordered Dr. Stephanie Russell detained, citing in part the potential danger to her ex if she is freed.

Judge Regina Edwards rejected a proposal from Russell's lawyers to release her on home incarceration and allow her to be picked up each workday and brought to her medical practice in Norton Commons, where she is the lone doctor.

One of Russell's lawyers, Scott C. Cox, said her roughly 3,000 patients need her, and she has never "hurt anyone in her life."

Related: Kidz Life Pediatrics doctor charged with hiring hitman to kill ex-husband in custody fight

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford cited a 98-page Jefferson Family Court order in January in which Judge Denise Brown said Russell poses a potential danger to her former husband, Rick Crabtree, and their two children, ages 4 and 6.

A 290-page psychological examination of Russell also said she posed a risk of absconding with her children, Ford said.

Edwards said there were no conditions that could guarantee the safety of Crabtree and that  Russell would return to court.

Russell, 52, a board-certified pediatrician, was charged last week with using interstate facilities in the commission of a murder for hire, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

In a criminal complaint, the FBI said Russell was embroiled in a bitter custody battle over the children with her ex-husband, Rick Crabtree, a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley.

The couple was battling over custody of their two sons, ages 4 and 6.

Ultimately the man whom she agreed to pay $6,000 for the job — including $3,500 she left for him in the sample collection box outside her Norton Commons office — turned out an undercover FBI employee, according to FBI records filed in court.

Russell was arrested May 19.

Cox, questioning the FBI agents assigned to the case, suggested Tuesday that Crabtree and his lawyer fabricated the murder-for-hire claim to divert attention from Russell's allegations he had abused the children.

But Ford noted that Judge Brown found no evidence that Crabtree had ever abused either child and granted him sole custody of both.

Edwards found probable cause for the murder for hire charge.

The allegation that Russell wanted Crabtree dead first emerged in 2018 when one of their nannies said Russell asked her to meet at a McDonald’s and told her she needed to "get rid of Rick," according to an affidavit submitted in court.

The FBI was unable to prove the case and dropped it until March, when a private investigator alerted the FBI that Russell also had asked two employees in her medical practice to help her find a hitman, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in support of a criminal complaint against her.

The employees, both nurses, cooperated with the FBI and turned over text messages Russell sent them about "delivering Christmas flowers" — reportedly a code for killing Crabtree.

Russell is still listed as a physician in good standing by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, though Norton Healthcare, with which she has been affiliated, has taken down her webpage.

Ford said the case likely will be presented to a grand jury in June. If Russell is indicted, her lawyers would get a chance to persuade a district judge to free her, pending trial.

Nobody answered the phone Tuesday at her office.

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kidz Life Pediatrics doctor accused of hiring hitman must stay in jail