Podiatrist Gets Prison, This Time For Tampering With Evidence In Second Murder-For-Hire Plot Against Wife: DA

NEW CITY, NY — A former podiatrist has learned his fate after pleading guilty to evidence tampering in connection with a second murder-for-hire plot against his wife, prosecutors have announced.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas E. Walsh II announced on Friday that 51-year-old Ira Bernstein, of Montebello, was sentenced to one-and-a-half to three years in prison for tampering with physical evidence. He pleaded guilty to the charge on Aug. 25, 2025.

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Prosecutors say that between August 4, 2022 and September 21, 2022, Bernstein, while believing that an audio recording of a conversation between him and another person was about to come out, suppressed the recording by "an act of concealment, alteration and destruction, or by employing deception." The recording captured a solicitation to have his ex-wife, Susan Bernstein, killed.

The first murder plot dates back nearly a decade, prosecutors said. Back in 2016, Ramapo police arrested Bernstein and charged him with conspiring to murder his wife, Susan Bernstein, and conspiring to assault two insurance investigators.

Bernstein pleaded guilty in 2017, and was sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison. He was released in July 2021.

"It's our sincere hope that this sentence sends a message loud and clear throughout this county and this state that domestic violence in any form, physical, psychological, legal, or otherwise, will not be tolerated," Walsh said. "It must be stopped and we are glad that the defendant Ira Bernstein was held accountable today for his actions."

The investigation was conducted by the Town of Ramapo Police Department with assistance from Rockland County District Attorney's Office detectives.