$1.25-Million Bail Set for Man in Murder-for-Hire Case : Courts: Tustin businessman allegedly paid reputed mobster to kill his secretary’s fiance.

A federal judge Friday set bail at $1.25 million for a Tustin businessman who was indicted this week on charges that he paid a reputed mobster to kill his secretary’s fiance so he could pursue an unsolicited love affair with her.

Because federal authorities could not prove allegations that Julius Frederick Schill, 58, has money stashed away in a Swiss bank account to aid him in fleeing the country, U.S. Magistrate Ronald W. Rose ruled that Schill be released if he makes bail.

Schill will have to post $250,000 in cash and the balance in equity on his home in San Juan Capistrano as well as property owned by his family and relatives, his attorney, Allan H. Stokke, said.

“The amount is higher than what it needs to be,” said Stokke, “but (Schill) was gratified that the judge saw fit to set bail and he will follow all the rules set by Judge Rose and he will show that he did not commit the charges against him.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Paul L. Seave, who is handling the case, could not be reached for comment Friday.

In his ruling, Rose ordered that Schill turn over his passport and curtail his business travel by not leaving Orange County without permission of the court. Also, Schill, who is the president of Auto Photo Systems Inc. in Tustin, can write checks for himself only in small amounts. Larger amounts must be co-signed by Stokke, the judge ruled.

Schill was also ordered to stay away from his secretary, Cynthia Asher, 24, and her fiance, Wilbur Constable, 25.

Schill remained behind bars Friday night at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, pending posting of bail.

An indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles this week charged that Schill, along with Richard Dota, 55, of Las Vegas, conspired to commit murder-for-hire in connection with the Oct. 11 beating and shooting of Constable, a former Marine from Mission Viejo. Constable survived the attack.

Dota, who is also called “Dickie,” has a lengthy criminal record and is a reputed associate of the Michael Genovese crime family in New York, according to authorities.

Schill and Dota were arrested Jan. 6.

Also charged with attempted murder in the indictment were three men Dota allegedly hired to kill Constable: Blake Tek Yoon, 27, of San Rafael, Calif., the suspected triggerman; John Caravaggio, 28, of Morristown, N. J., and Scott Douglas Smith, 23, of Denville, N. J.

Dota is being held without bail in Las Vegas. The other suspects were being held in Orange County Jail, Yoon without bail, the other two in lieu of $1-million bail each.

The men are being charged in federal court because they allegedly conspired to use and travel in interstate commerce with the intent to commit murder. If convicted, all five face up to 25 years in federal prison.

Authorities allege that Schill paid Dota $42,000 to arrange Constable’s murder so he could romance Asher. Dota, in turn, hired three men to do the killing, according to the indictment.

Seave unsuccessfully argued earlier this week at a hearing that bail for Schill be denied because of the viciousness of the alleged crime.

“This was not simply (an attempted) murder out of an impulse,” Seave said at the hearing. “This was a very cold, calculated, attempted murder-for-hire.”

Stokke, however, argued that his client has an “exemplary” reputation in the community and that “I don’t think that based upon his history, that there’s any pattern at all of violence.”