Man Who Shot Tech CEO After 500 Push-Up Punishment Shoved Sock in Victim's Mouth, Convicted

A man from California was the last among a group of four people to be convicted for murdering the CEO of a tech company in 2019. A California jury sentenced 29-year-old Joshua Camps on March 11 on charges of murder and burglary.

A 29-year-old man from California, identified as Joshua Camps, was found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and burglary on March 11 by a California jury. Camps, along with three others, brutally murdered a marijuana and tech entrepreneur for creating a hostile work environment. The victim has been identified as Tushar Atre, the CEO of Santa Cruize Tech.

Camps allegedly admitted to stabbing Atre in the neck after he tried to escape. He confessed to shooting him with an AR-15 rifle several times in the jaw and the back of the head afterward to put him out of his misery, according to police.

"We zip-tied his hands, shoved a sock in his mouth," Camps said. "I told him no one wants to hurt you, we are just here for your stuff. He kept saying, 'Who are you guys?' He didn't know what was going on. … He was covered in blood. He was saying, 'Please let me go,'" Camp confessed to the crime.

Camp’s accomplices, Kaleb Charters, Sam Borghese, and Stephen Lindsay, were all convicted of first-degree murder in separate trials that were held in 2025.

Camps, who was the last to be convicted, was hired by Charters to help with the burglary of $1 million from Atre’s house. Both Charters and Lindsay, who worked for Atre, were allegedly humiliated on several occasions.

According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Detective, Ethan Rumrill, they were “humiliated in front of other people.” Rumrill said this about Kaleb Charters and Stephen Lindsay, both of whom worked for Atre at a cannabis firm and were present during the incident.

Sam Borghese, another worker employed by Atre, took the stand and accused Atre of being a boss who “pushed his employees very hard.” “Did Mr. Atre invoke fear in his employees? So that people would work harder for him?” Charter’s defense attorney, Thomas Brewer, asked Borghese. To which he replied, "Yes," indicating agreement.

Charter was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison,had recruited Camps and his brother Kurtis Charter in the robbery of $1 million at Atre’s house. Things went wrong as Atre managed to escape, according to the prosecutor.

On October 1, 2019, Camps, Lindsay, and Kurtis, along with Charter, broke into Atre’s home with the intention of stealing $1 million, which they believed Atre had at his residence, according to the court orders. Things went wrong as Atre managed to escape, according to the prosecutor.

As the tech millionaire ran down the street, Camps stabbed him, which was caught on the home security footage. “Camps started stabbing him over and over,” a prosecutor explained during Charter’s trial, while showing the jury photos of an SUV with Atre’s blood smeared all over it.

“Kurtiz then grabbed Atre and threw him in the car.” They then drove Atre to a Santa Cruz cannabis property to finish him off. The prosecutor mentioned that the employee murdered the multimillionaire at the same location where he had previously made his employees do 500 push-ups for paychecks.

According to KRON, employees came forward and accused Atre of creating a toxic work environment to the point where staffers often joked about robbing or hurting him, before he was murdered.

The employees said Atre repeatedly yelled at workers, bounced their paychecks, and fired them if he felt disrespected.

Kaleb Charter, who was a former U.S. Army National Guard member, testified during his trial about Atre’s paycheck ultimatum. “You guys are in the army, do 500 pushups,” Charter recounted Atre telling him and Lindsey, who was also a former National Guard member.