Defendant in murder-for-hire plot also facing grand larceny charges

A defendant in a murder-for-hire plot Nassau prosecutors said was aimed at killing a teenage employee who accused him of sexual abuse pleaded not guilty Friday to new charges that include grand larceny.

Daniel Miller, 46, of Inwood, attended his Mineola court arraignment in a wheelchair, which authorities said was related to his hunger strike at the Nassau County Jail.

Authorities arrested Miller in 2012, accusing the owner of a Santeria religious supplies shop in Inwood of drugging and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old male employee.

Prosecutors said Miller then tried to hire a hit man to kill the victim, offering to pay $15,000 and telling him to make it look like a cellphone robbery.

Authorities have said Miller also asked someone to make a voodoo doll of the teen and stick pins in it, and to use the teen's photo and dirt in a ritual meant to give him cancer.

Defense attorney Bill Shanahan said Friday his client is delusional and has been on a hunger strike for 50 days in an attempt to be sent to another jail.

Shanahan said after court that a judge already has ruled that his client is competent to stand trial, but he may appeal to a higher court.

"We feel that he should be examined further," Shanahan said of Miller. ". . . He talks about the spirits telling him things."

Miller denies the sex abuse and murder-for-hire allegations, along with the new charges, the attorney said.

Nassau prosecutors said the new charges stem from Miller's allegedly stealing more than $206,000 from three check-processing businesses and two technology and office supply companies in 2009 and 2010. The 14-count indictment charges Miller with multiple counts of grand larceny and criminal possession of a forged instrument, along with a scheme to defraud.