Detective Reveals Accused Tech CEO's Murderers Felt 'Humiliated' by Pushup Challenge

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In Santa Cruz, California, the courtroom proceedings continued on Monday for one of the four suspects accused in the murder of Tushar Atre, a prominent tech CEO.

Earlier this year, Stephen Nicholas “Nic” Lindsay and Kurtis Charters were found guilty in separate murder trials and received life sentences without the possibility of parole. On Monday, attention turned back to Kaleb Charters, the younger brother of Kurtis, as prosecutors brought detectives to testify.

According to investigators, on the early morning of October 1, 2019, a group of men invaded Atre’s residence in Pleasure Point. They forcibly removed him from bed, stole thousands of dollars in cash from a safe, and subjected him to a brutal ordeal. Atre was stabbed, abducted, and later fatally shot, with his body discovered in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Immediately following the shocking crime, a close friend of Atre pondered, “Who could have done this? What was their motive?”

Kaleb Charters, left, and Kurtis Charters, right, are seen in mugshots released by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office in 2020.

Atre, aged 50, was a successful tech executive who transitioned into the cannabis industry. He was the founder of Interstitial Systems, which operated a laboratory in Santa Cruz and a marijuana farm in the nearby mountains. Additionally, Atre was the CEO of AtreNet, a web design company.

Kaleb Charters was 18 years old when Atre hired him, along with Lindsey, to plant a large field of marijuana at the farm in August of 2019.

Atre also hired a 23-year-old University of California Santa Cruz graduate, Sam Borghese, as his right-hand-man for managing the new cannabis business, attorneys said. Borghese testified for hours on the stand about toxic working relationships between Atre and Interstitial employees.

Borghese answered over 100 questions shedding light on a possible motive to murder. He said his boss frequently yelled at employees, withheld paychecks, and fired people if he felt disrespected.

“He pushed his employees very hard,” Borghese said. Interstitial employees were so disgruntled that they often “joked” about robbing or hurting Atre behind his back, Borghese testified.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Thomas “TJ” Brewer asked, “Did Mr. Atre invoke fear in his employees? (So) people would work harder for him?” Borghese answered, “Yes.”

Atre often conducted interviews with job applicants inside his oceanfront house at Pleasure Point. Some of his employees believed that he kept $1 million in cash at home, according to court documents.

Unlike his co-workers, Borghese said he had a great relationship with his boss and appreciated having a mentor for a career in business. They often hung out and went surfing together, he said.

Tushar Atre (Photo via Atre.Net)

Borghese said his boss handed him $25,000 before he drove to Humboldt County with Lindsay and Kaleb Charters to buy hundreds of marijuana plants. Assistant District Attorney Michael Mckinney asked, “Kinda cool to be driving around with $25,000 in cash? Did Mr. Lindsay record videos with the money showing off?” Borghese answered, “Yes.”

Lindsay and Kaleb worked long shifts, from sunrise to sunset, for nearly two weeks performing manual labor on the farm. They had a security code to gain access to the farm, but only Borghese had the security code for Atre’s house, Borghese testified.

The jury watched a video that Atre recorded of his employees working at the farm between rows of green cannabis plants.

After Lindsay and Kaleb Charters were paid with checks, “they told me they needed a break, because this was very intense work,” Borghese said. After the duo left Santa Cruz, Atre discovered that keys to one of the farm’s trucks were missing. “Tushar got really upset. Tushar called the bank and bounced the checks,” Borghese testified.

Lindsay and Kaleb returned to Santa Cruz and found the keys at the farm. They met with Atre at the cannabis lab and an argument ensued over the paychecks, Borghese said. Atre was angry because his former employees wasted his time. “Atre (said) he was worth thousands of dollars an hour — because he makes millions — so anyone who wastes his time is costing money,” Borghese testified.

Atre then ordered the duo to perform between 300-500 pushups, Borghese said, before they would receive new paychecks for $1,400 each. Lindsay and Kaleb were both members of the Army National Guard, but being forced to do hundreds of pushups for paychecks was humiliating, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Detective Ethan Rumrill testified on Monday.

Det. Rumrill said Lindsay and Kaleb’s names came up early in the murder investigation as suspects who may have a motive to harm Atre. “They were humiliated in front of people doing pushups,” Rumrill testified.

In September of 2019, a few weeks after the pushups incident, Lindsay and Kaleb called Borghese. They asked for Atre’s home security code and talked about robbing him, Borghese testified. Borghese thought they were joking during the phone call and he gave them a fake security code, he said.

Investigators said Lindsay, Kaleb, and Kaleb’s brother recruited their friend, Joshua Camps, to help them rob Atre because Camps owned several guns.

Stephen Nicholas “Nic” Lindsay, left, and Joshua Camps, right, are seen in mugshots released by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office in 2020.

According to attorneys, on October 1, 2019, Kaleb drove Camps, his brother, and Lindsay to Atre’s house, dropped them off, and drove away.

Surveillance cameras recorded Atre as he ran for his life down Pleasure Point Drive screaming for help. He was tackled and stabbed in the street before three men forced him into a white BMW SUV and kidnapped the victim, surveillance video played in court showed. Investigators said Kaleb waited for the group at the cannabis farm, where Camps shot Atre in the back of the head and left his body.

On Monday, jurors saw detailed bank account records for Atre, Kaleb, and Lindsay.

Around 5 p.m. on the same day of the murder, Kaleb went to a bank and deposited $1,000 cash into his account, District Attorney Detective Steven Ryan testified.

More cash was deposited into Lindsay’s account on October 15, 2019. Ryan showed the jury bank records revealing that in November, Lindsay made several attempts to pay for bills and credit card debt using Atre’s bank account information. Lindsay also tried to add Atre’s account as a payment method on his PayPal account, Ryan testified. Kaleb deposited another $2,300 in cash in November.

By May of 2020, homicide detectives arrested the four suspects.

Kaleb has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, and his defense attorney described the case as a burglary-gone-wrong.

While Kaleb agreed to participate in a burglary, he never planned to be part of a murder, Brewer said during opening statements earlier in the trial.

“Plan A” was to break into Atre’s house while the tech executive was out of town, steal cash and one of Atre’s cars, and drive the cash to Kaleb at their meeting point on the farm, Brewer said.

After Kaleb dropped the trio off and left Pleasure Point, the trio went with “Plan B,” by burglarizing the house even though Atre was home, Brewer said. “They made the decision to change the plan,” the defense attorney emphasized.

“Tushar took off running. At that point, all plans were off sheer chaos,” Brewer exclaimed. “They had a Plan A, and Plan B, maybe. Never a Plan C.”

The defense attorney said Camps pulled the trigger and killed Atre. “Kaleb never touched Tushar,” Brewer told jurors.

In addition to murder, Kaleb is charged with robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and carjacking. His trial will continue Tuesday with Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel presiding. Camps’ trial was paused, and is scheduled to resume after Kaleb’s jury reaches a verdict.

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Detective Reveals Accused Tech CEO’s Murderers Felt ‘Humiliated’ by Pushup Challenge

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