NEW YORK — The former police chief at a Massachusetts Veterans Administration medical center has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a kidnap-murder case that grew out of the prosecution of a cannibalism case against a New York City police officer.

Richard Meltz entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan Thursday to two charges of conspiracy.

He admitted that he assisted in the planned kidnapping of adult relatives of a New Jersey man charged in the case as well as another adult woman. He says he gave advice to a New York man about how to carry out a kidnapping.

The 65-year-old Meltz is the former chief of police at the Bedford Veterans Administration Medical Center in Massachusetts. He could face up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.