SEATTLE – Bail was set at $2 million Wednesday for an eastside eye surgeon charged with plotting to hire a hit man to murder his business partner and a former employee.
Dr. Michael Mockovak pleaded not guilty in a King County courtroom to two counts of criminal solicitation of first-degree murder.
Mockovak is the co-founder of Clearly Lasik. He's accused of trying to recruit a fellow employee to help him hire a hit man to kill his partner, Dr. Joseph King, and the former president of the company, Bradley Klock.
King is also Mockovak's neighbor and the brother-in-law of his ex-wife.
According to prosecutors, the doctors were trying to split the business. They say Mockovak was not happy with a potential settlement and offered to pay another employee, whom he believed had ties to the Russian Mafia, to hire a hit man.
That employee went to the FBI.
According to the probable cause statement, Clearly Lasik has a $5 million life insurance policy on Dr. King, of which Dr. Mockovak believed he would get half.
In court Wednesday, King stood just feet away from Mockovak, asking the judge for an even higher bail.
"He knows so many details about me, our lives, that I'm tremendously concerned that, if he is released, he'll try to finish the job," said King.
Mockovak's attorney said his bail was already higher than most other cases she's seen and wanted it reduced. The attorney said Mockovak would cooperate with any provisions and just wanted to get back to work.
The judge set the bail at $2 million and said Mockovak wouldn't be going back to work anytime soon. If he makes bail, he's ordered to stay at least a half mile from Clearly Lasik, King's house and the schools King's children attend.
Mockovak's next court appearance is Dec. 16.
