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Boss Eyed a Killing Spree, Ex-Worker Says

PHOENIX (CN) - When a worker refused $20,00 to help kill his boss's wife, the boss fired him and then tried to kill him too, the man claims in court.

Patrick King claims his boss at Arizona Shower Door, Fred Knadler, offered him $20,000 in January 2012 to help kill Knadler's wife, Libby.

After he refused, and reported Knadler to police, and was fired, "Fred Knadler offered an undercover police officer money to kill King," King says in the complaint. He claims he learned from Phoenix police that his ex-boss wanted to kill him.

King sued Knadler, his sons Paul and Peter Knadler, Arizona Shower Door, and its human resources manager Penny Britton, in Maricopa County Court.

King began working for Arizona Shower Door in 2006. On Jan. 14, 2012, Knadler "offered to pay King the sum of $20,000 to assist him in the murder of Libby Knadler plus a guaranteed increased lifetime salary as an employee at Arizona Shower Door in the amount of $10,000 per month," the complaint states.

Libby Knadler had sued for divorce in 2011, "and the resulting divorce proceedings became nasty," according to the complaint.

King claims he secretly recorded Knadler's offer and reported it to Phoenix Police that very day, who arrested Knadler for conspiracy to commit murder.

Two days later, King says, he wrote a letter to Arizona Shower Door and its officers, Paul and Peter Knadler, stating "that, although he never wanted to lose his job and had been informed that there was no way he could legally be fired for doing what was right, he offered to walk away from his job in an apparent offer to quit because he feared Fred Knadler would make bail, be released from jail, and terrorize him if he remained employed at Arizona Shower Door."

Arizona Shower Door refused his offer and placed him on indefinite paid leave and prohibited him from returning to the business without an invitation, King says in the complaint.

He claims that the company also "prohibited King from discussing company business with other Arizona Shower Door employees, and Arizona Shower Door implemented a new retaliatory policy against King by prohibiting all company employees from discussing company business or company personnel with any media and subjecting all company employees to immediate termination if they were found to have violated this policy."

King claims that on Jan. 20, 2012, defendant Britton told him "to be ready to come back to work within a week's notice while he was on paid administrative leave and to call Britton every Tuesday thereafter to check on his employment status."

Paul Knadler fired him on July 12, 2012 without notice, according to the complaint.

To top it off, King says in the complaint: "On February 20,2013, King learned that Fred Knadler offered an undercover police officer money to kill King. The Phoenix Police Department informed King of this criminal threat on this date. King reasonably believes Fred Knadler was and is capable of carrying out such a threat by offering other prisoners and other people money to murder him."

Knadler has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder, according to the complaint.

King seeks punitive damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful termination and assault. He is represented by Emile Harmon.

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