On the same day he’s accused of fatally shooting Rusty Sneiderman, Hemy Neuman collected the work-issued computer belonging to the dead man's widow, according to court documents filed Thursday by the lawyer representing Neuman’s estranged spouse.
Esther Panitch, Ariela Neuman’s attorney, alleges the computer was taken from GE Energy “to afford someone an opportunity to erase any evidence which would prove an illicit relationship between [Hemy Neuman] and Andrea Greenberg Sneiderman.”
The documents, obtained exclusively by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News, were filed as part of Ariela Neuman’s separation suit against her husband. They raise new questions about the extent of the relationship between Andrea Sneiderman and Hemy Neuman, her supervisor at GE. Neuman remains in jail without bond in DeKalb County, charged with shooting Rusty Sneiderman outside a Dunwoody day care facility in November. His trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 17.
Court documents allege Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman took several trips together, including vacations in Colorado last summer and a rendezvous in Greenville, S.C., the month before the shooting. There were also "several hundred" cell texts, some about nonwork-related issues, sent between the two for a six- to eight-week period before and after Rusty Sneiderman's death, the filings say.
The filings allege that Neuman and Sneiderman became involved soon after he hired her last spring, as was previously reported. Hemy Neuman received Sneiderman's resume from his wife who, the documents state, advised that “she was trying to help an unemployed couple with two young children.”
A sexual relationship eventually blossomed, the documents allege, though Sneiderman at first resisted, saying she would not become involved “while she was married.” In her only public comments on the case, Sneiderman referred to Neuman as a family friend. She has not discussed the allegations she was involved with Neuman. Her attorney, Seth Kirschenbaum, is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.
"Conduct is not an issue in this case," said Neuman's attorney, Joe Winter. "In fact, it has been Mr. Neuman's position and we've made that clear to opposing counsel that Mr. Neuman is giving everything to his wife and family."
The settlement offer "doesn't account for the money he had access to," Panitch told the AJC on Thursday.
"We need a full accounting of the money he has and the money he's spent before we can engage in true settlement discussions," she said. As for Winter's assertion that the allegations raised in Thursday's filings are irrelevant, Panitch said conduct is an issue whether it's a divorce or, in the Neumans' case, separate maintenance.
Though she's not directly named in any civil or criminal cases, Andrea Sneiderman figures prominently in both the separation suit and, presumably, the criminal case.
According to the documents, Sneiderman told Neuman her husband had a “cold” personality and she was “under pressure” as the sole breadwinner.
That didn’t stop the alleged lovers from seeking Rusty Sneiderman’s help in findng a new job for Neuman, according to the documents, which note that GE employees are prohibited from dating co-workers.
As the AJC recently reported, the 36-year-old father of two and his alleged killer became friendly. In one email obtained by the paper, Rusty Sneiderman told Neuman, “I can see why Andrea is enjoying working with you.”
Sneiderman also informed Neuman that his wife and two young children were covered by a life insurance policy taken out in case of his death, the court documents allege.
Hemy Neuman had financial troubles of his own, according to his wife of 22 years. She had been placed on an “austere budget” just before the filings allege that an affair began. Neuman warned his wife their financial situation was "precarious," the documents say.
Meanwhile, Neuman's wife alleges her husband was spending the couple's money on his mistress. In a recent interview Kirschenbaum, Andrea Sneiderman’s attorney, confirmed his client traveled with Neuman on business. But Neuman's wife alleges at least one of their trips, to Colorado in late July, was not subsidized by General Electric.
“You told your wife that you were meeting an ‘HR representative’ in Colorado on the July 23 trip,” attorney Panitch writes in the court filings. “You admitted to your wife that you shared two bottles of wine with this ‘HR representative’ in Colorado on the July 23 trip.”
Panitch alleges the “HR representative” was Andrea Sneiderman.
Andrea Sneiderman and her supervisor later traveled to the United Kingdom, a foray Kirschenbaum previously acknowledged to the AJC. Ariela Neuman had planned to accompany her husband on that trip but was later uninvited by him , the documents allege.
“Andrea Greenberg Sneiderman was not a necessary employee to conduct General Electric’s business on the [U.K.] trip,” Panitch states.
Winter would not comment on the allegations of an extramarital affair.
"There may be things that [Neuman] would agree to, maybe things he would not agree to, and there are things he's probably going to object to, but the vast majority is not relevant," Winter said.
Since his arrest Jan. 4, Neuman has not provided any financial assistance to his estranged wife or three children, Ariela Neuman alleges.
Hemy Neuman’s lawyers have portrayed him as a doting father, but, according to Thursday’s filings, he visited a Woodstock firing range on his daughter's 17th birthday. That was 16 days before Rusty Sneiderman was shot.
The 48-year-old engineer’s criminal defense has been funded largely by his mother, who has pledged in excess of $300,000, according to court documents. Panitch alleges that Neuman has also withdrawn money from various retirement plans.
Though he had moved out of his family’s east Cobb home in October, Neuman and his wife maintained contact. It’s unclear why he called her the day of the shooting to tell her he needed to retrieve Andrea Sneiderman’s computer from their GE office.
"[Ariela] has no idea why he told her this," Panitch said.
Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman also kept in touch before and after the shooting, as prosecutors have alleged. And no one has disputed that Neuman attended Sneiderman's funeral. There, Ariela Neuman said, he participated in a Jewish ritual honoring the dead.
Hemy Neuman, his wife claims, “shoveled dirt on the coffin of Russell Sneiderman.” Roughly six weeks later, Neuman would be arrested and charged with murder in Sneiderman's death.
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