Grandparents Charged In Hit Man Case
Authorities say a Tavares, Florida, couple is being held without bail, accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill their three grandchildren and daughter-in-law to stop them from testifying against their son in his rape and molestation trial.
Detectives say their granddaughter and a stepdaughter of their son were the victims in the rape and molestation case.
The Orlando Sentinel says the couple had taken on a heavy financial burden since last October, when the girls first accused him of molestation. First, the paper says, they financed his escape to Georgia – providing him with money and documents allowing him to assume the identity of his dead brother.
That worked for a while, but the paper says eventually the people he was living with - suspicious of his frequently changing hair color, and worried by discrepancies in his story - searched his things, found his driver's license, looked him up on the Internet and called the police.
His wife says that after he was arrested, the couple continued to carry the load – paying the attorney's bills by taking out a mortgage on their house and making those monthly payments by the grandfather coming out of retirement and taking a job driving a truck.
The names of everyone involved – including the suspects – are being withheld in order to protect the privacy of the victims.
The couple, ages 60 and 59, are charged with four counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder. Sgt. Christie Mysinger, at the Lake County sheriff's office, says they tried to hire a hit man with an offer of $100 up front and more money later, if he killed their son's wife, their 10-year-old granddaughter, a step-granddaughter, 16, and a step-grandson, age 14, and Checkers, the family dog.
Police say what they didn't know is that the man they were allegedly trying to hire was an undercover agent for the sheriff's office.
The couple's 31-year-old son has been jailed since November on 22 charges of sexual battery on a child, lewd and lascivious molestation and showing obscene material to a minor, court records show.
According to the Sentinel, he is accused of having raped his stepdaughter repeatedly – several times at gunpoint – over a four year period, and, molesting his 10-year-old daughter.
According to the arrest report, he tried to solicit a fellow jail inmate to kill his family. According to his wife, detectives say he gave the inmate detailed, hand-drawn map of the inside of the family home – to help out in the planned hit.
Authorities say an informant told detectives about the plot and they made arrangements to meet the man's parents Tuesday at a Best Western motel in Tavares.
"(The deputy) said, 'You want me to kill everyone, including the dog?' They agreed," Mysinger said.
Their son's wife told the Sentinel Wednesday that she fears her husband, but still wants her daughters to testify in the rape case.
"I believed he was capable of killing us," she said. "I'm just going to keep on going. I don't know what else to do ... I can't collapse. I'm a mother."
Detectives say they videotaped the couple paying a detective to kill the family members. Mysinger says the couple's son has not yet been charged in the murder-for-hire case.
"We're not in a big hurry to add charges on him," said Mysinger, who says the son was the mastermind of the murder plot. "He's not going anywhere. Time is on our side right now."
All three are now in the same jail.
A judge ordered all three held without bail in isolation from the rest of the jail population, Mysinger said. They are allowed contact only with lawyers.
The son's attorney, Peter Sartes, said he had no details on the parent's arrest. It is not clear who was representing his parents.
"However you look at it, it's a very unfortunate incident," Sartes said Thursday. "It's probably going to have a negative impact on my client. But I really don't know more than that."