Cleveland Man Sentenced in Murder-for-Hire

Rick A. Aldridge, aka Ricky Aldridge, was sentenced to more than six years in prison today, Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced.

Aldridge, 55, of Cleveland, was sentenced to 78 months in prison. He previously pled guilty to two crimes: one count of use of interstate commerce facility in the commission of murder-for-hire, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1958(a), and one count of felon in possession of ammunition, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g). He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.

“The crime Aldridge envisioned and plotted was designed to terrify and intimidate,” Dettelbach said. “Fortunately for all of us, he was not able to carry it out.”

Aldridge admitted earlier this year that on August 19 and 20, 2008, he agreed to hire and compensate another person, who was cooperating with the FBI, to commit the murder of an ethnic minority neighbor. Aldridge also admitted that on August 29, 2008, he did knowingly possess ammunition while a convicted felon.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Dean M. Valore and Robert J. Patton following an investigation initiated by the Cleveland Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.