Tallahassee Man Sentenced to Federal Prison in Murder-for-Hire Scheme

TALLAHASSEE, FL—Thomas F. Kirwin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced today the sentence of Ronald Scott Preacher (age 35) to three years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release arising from his conviction for use of a facility of interstate commerce with the intent that a murder be committed, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1958. Preacher was sentenced at the conclusion of a sentencing hearing before Chief United States District Judge Stephan P. Mickle on January 19, 2010.

Evidence introduced at Preacher’s October 2009 jury trial established that in July of this year, Preacher repeatedly offered a co-worker money to kill a man who Preacher believed had stolen his girlfriend. When his co-worker refused, Preacher asked the co-worker to find someone else who would be willing to kill the man. On July 13, Preacher used his cell phone to send his co-worker links to photographs of the intended victim. Preacher’s efforts to find a hit man became so frequent and insistent, that his co-worker feared that if he did not alert law enforcement, Preacher might find someone to commit the crime. On July 27, 2009 the co-worker told agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about Preacher’s plans. Over the course of the next two days, agents recorded conversations Preacher had with his co-worker, and with an FDLE agent posing as a “hit man.” In these conversations, Preacher agreed to pay the hit man $2500 to make the victim “disappear” and requested a Polaroid photograph as proof of the crime. During these conversations, Preacher also admitted that he had loosened the drain plug on the radiator of his ex-girlfriend’s car, so that the vehicle would over-heat and she would have to turn to Preacher, who was an auto mechanic, for help. On July 29, Preacher withdrew $1100 from his bank account to pay the hit man, and gave the money, along with photographs of the intended victim, to his co-worker to hand over to the hit man. The co-worker refused, and when the hit man arrived, Preacher called off the hit, saying he feared he was being set up.

Mr. Kirwin commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, whose swift intervention disrupted the defendant’s plan and led to his conviction and sentence. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karen Rhew-Miller.