Federal Indictment Charges Murder-for-Hire Scheme Vancouver Man Offered to Pay $8,000 for Murder of Former Girlfriend

PORTLAND, OR—United States Attorney Dwight C. Holton announced today that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging a Vancouver man, Darryl Kevin Belk, 42, with an eight-count indictment alleging Belk’s involvement in an interstate murder-for-hire scheme. The indictment alleges Belk traveled from Vancouver, Washington to Portland, Oregon to meet with another individual to discuss paying someone to commit a murder. Belk faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each of the seven counts of using interstate commerce to attempt to commit a murder-for-hire, and a maximum of five years in prison on a charge of interstate domestic violence. Belk is scheduled for arraignment on the indictment on April 29, 2010 at 1:30.

FBI agents arrested Belk at a Jantzen Beach parking lot late in the evening on Friday, April 16, 2010. The arrest was without incident. Belk made his initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Janice M. Stewart on Monday, April 19, 2010, based on the FBI’s criminal complaint. He has been in federal custody pending today’s indictment.

According to the indictment, Belk requested the help of an associate to locate a hit man to kill a former girlfriend. The associate contacted the FBI, who in turn used an undercover agent to pose as the hit man. In addition, the indictment alleges that Belk, in a meeting with the undercover agent, agreed to pay $8,000 for the murder.

An indictment is only an accusation of a crime. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Nyhus.