By Sophia Chang
Mohammed Khalil, 44, was found guilty in the death of Magdy El-Sayed, whom prosecutors said was kidnapped outside of his Bayside home and was reported missing on May 14, 2001. Khalil, who kept a garage and possibly a residence in Brooklyn, was hired by El-Sayed's former business partner in a revenge and extortion scheme after the pair disagreed over store inventory, according to New York Daily News reports that identified the former partner as Said Aboelela, also of Egypt. Authorities said Khalil had posed as a federal agent during the abduction, leading El-Sayed to tell his family he had been kidnapped by the FBI. Khalil and his accomplices demanded a ransom, exhorted from the profits of a chain of 99 Cent stores owned by El-Sayed, prosecutors said. El-Sayed's body was found in the back seat of his car in Bayonne, N.J. several days after he was reported missing, the TimesLedger reported at the time. He appeared to have been suffocated, with bruises on his face and wrists indicating where his hands may have been tied during an abduction, New Jersey investigators said. Eyewitnesses said they saw three or four men put El-Sayed into a car with New Jersey plates outside his home, prosecuters said. Khalil was found guilty of exhorting money from a livery car service in 1999 and also of intentionally carrying a firearm to commit crimes of violence, authorities said. A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Khalil of impersonating a FBI agent over several years to obtain money and goods. No other arrests have been made in the death of El-Sayed. Khalil was due back in federal court in Brooklyn April 25 for sentencing and faces up to life in prison. Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
