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Scottsdale barber’s killing brings life sentences for two men in alleged murder plot
Robert Celifie was sentenced to life in prison for arranging the 2022 killing of mobile barber Ilya Shimonov in Scottsdale. The gunman, Chaze Cable, was convicted and sentenced to life the year before.
A California man was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of arranging the 2022 killing of Scottsdale mobile barber Ilya Shimonov, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Monday, Oct. 26, 2026.
Robert Celifie was found guilty in August of first-degree murder, conspiracy and burglary. Prosecutors said he planned Shimonov’s killing and paid Chaze Cable to carry it out.
Shimonov, known as “Mike the Barber,” worked from a converted school bus. On Jan. 3, 2022, he had just finished a haircut in a Scottsdale hotel parking lot when he was shot and killed, investigators said.
According to prosecutors, Celifie gave Cable photographs of Shimonov, identified the time and place for the attack, and supplied the car and gun used in the killing. Cable also took Shimonov’s phone, which investigators later traced to Las Vegas and then Los Angeles.
Cable was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy and burglary in 2025 and received a life sentence.
Investigators pursued leads across multiple states, executing 48 search warrants and reviewing surveillance footage from dozens of locations, as well as terabytes of collected data. Police agencies in Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas and Arkansas assisted Scottsdale police with arrests.
“Through his actions he condemned this victim to death just the same,” Mitchell said of Celifie, noting that he was not the person who fired the gun. She credited Scottsdale police and prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft with the case.