CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — A South Korea-based U.S. soldier who allegedly plotted his wife’s murder is now in custody in the States, 8th Army officials confirmed Monday.
Spc. Michael Andrew Crawford, of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Suwon Air Base, was flown to San Francisco and arrested by U.S. marshals last week.
Crawford, 32, of Ada, Okla., has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and using interstate commerce to plot a murder-for-hire, according to the Ada Evening News.
Crawford’s aunt, Regina Hercules, 42, and Tonia Rene Mullins, 32, have pleaded guilty to the same charges and face up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
"Mullins and Crawford intended to buy a house together with $250,000 they anticipated collecting from the victim’s life insurance policy," U.S. attorney Sheldon Sperling told the Ada newspaper in story Friday.
The Ardmore Police Department told the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Sept. 4 that Mullins was seeking a hit man to kill Crawford’s wife, according to a release from Sperling.
An undercover agent met with Mullins and Hercules on Sept. 12 and negotiated a $5,000 deal.Mullins and Hercules later implicated Crawford, the release said.
Investigators have video and audio recordings, text messages and pictures implicating the trio, according to a document filed by Pontotoc County District Attorney Chris Ross and cited in the Nov. 28 story.
Crawford told the undercover agent he wanted his wife "in the ground" and sent a letter agreeing to pay the agent $5,000, Ross said.
Sentencing should begin in about two months following completion of a report, Sperling said.