May 12, 2026 By Mike Jones 3 min read

The alleged middleman in the murder-for-hire plot at a Rostraver Township shopping plaza more than three years ago waived his preliminary hearing and will now stand trial along with the co-defendant accused of ordering the hit.

Tuan M. Dang appeared Monday before District Judge Wayne Vlasic in the Westmoreland County Courthouse and waived felony charges of first-degree murder and homicide in the November 2022 killing of Boyke Budiarachman.

Dang, 47, of Philadelphia, is accused of working closely with Keven Van Lam, who Westmoreland County detectives said ordered Budiarachman’s killing after the two had a falling out over their business dealings. Lam allegedly paid $65,000 to Dang, who is accused of then hiring a gunman to execute Budiarachman, according to court documents.

Budiarachman, 49, of Rostraver Township, was shot and killed Nov. 5, 2022, while walking to his pickup truck in the Rostraver Square parking lot after having dinner with Lam. The gunman, who was described in documents as a Black man, has not been arrested and investigators have not said whether they know his identity.

Lam, 58, who was living in North Strabane Township at the time, allegedly drove back to his other home in Philadelphia after the killing and left the $65,000 at his home as instructed by Dang, according to court documents.

Lam was arrested three days after the shooting and charged with first-degree murder, homicide and evidence tampering after investigators said he solicited others to carry out Budiarachman’s killing. According to testimony at Lam’s preliminary hearing in October 2023, he had paid Budiarachman nearly $800,000 in late 2019 to purchase a temporary staffing business along with three houses in the Mon Valley and eight transport vans to help migrant workers find jobs in the Charleroi area.

But their business relationship soured when Lam complained that Budiarachman had started a competing employment agency and taken some of his workers. Budiarachman also continued charging Lam about $8,000 every two weeks in order to keep some of his temporary workers employed at the Fourth Street Foods butchering plant, where Budiarachman was head of hiring.

In a police interview played at his preliminary hearing, Lam told investigators that he contacted a “Mr. Tuan” to facilitate the hit on Budiarachman, although he claimed that he only hoped the victim would be beaten on the leg with a baseball bat. A month before the killing, Lam allegedly “consulted” with Dang and they agreed on the price to “take care of the victim,” according to court records.

Dang was arrested in Philadelphia in March after authorities identified him, and he was interviewed by FBI agents before being turned over to local authorities in Westmoreland County.

It’s not known if Lam and Dang will be tried together since Dang was arrested just two months ago and Lam’s has progressed through the courts more than three years after his arrest. Lam had been scheduled to go to trial last week, but it was delayed for the 13th time and is now tentatively rescheduled for July 6.

Dang’s Montgomery County-based defense attorney, Kevon Glickman, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment on the case. A spokeswoman for Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli confirmed that Dang waived his charges to court, but declined further comment.

Both Lam and Dang are being held without bond at the Westmoreland County jail while they await trial.