Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Rudy Adonaldo Chavez, age 31, of Guatemala to 97 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit murder for hire and for distribution of cocaine.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore.
According to his plea agreement, on September 6, 2019 HSI investigators arranged a cocaine transaction between a confidential informant and Chavez. The confidential informant purchased 2 ounces of cocaine from Chavez for $2,500.
Three days later, investigators arranged a controlled meeting between the confidential informant and Chavez, who was in the country illegally. During the meeting, Chavez solicited assistance from the confidential informant to murder another individual. As agreed to in the statement of facts, Chavez stated that the intended victim had previously killed two of Chavez’s friends and shot his brother, as a result of an unsuccessful drug deal that took place in Guatemala.
On September 11, 2019, the confidential informant called Chavez on the phone to introduce him to an undercover officer posing as a “hitman”. During the conversation with the hitman, Chavez explained why he wanted to murder the intended victim, that the intended victim fled from Guatemala, illegally entered the United States, and settled in California. He further explained that he had an associate (co-conspirator 1) that was willing to lure the intended victim from California to Baltimore to execute the murder. Chavez also informed the undercover officer that co-conspirator 1 was aware of the plan to murder the intended victim.
Furthermore, Chavez and the undercover officer discussed pricing for the murder. Specifically, Chavez agreed to pay the undercover officer $5,000 “up front” and the remaining $5,000 after the victim was murdered. As a result of the meeting, Chavez and the undercover officer exchanged phone numbers to arrange future meetings regarding the murder for hire.
In a controlled meeting with the undercover officer on September 19, 2020, Chavez provided the undercover officer with approximately $2,000 as a down payment for the murder. Prior to the meeting, Chavez and the undercover agent agreed that the undercover agent would use the $2,000 to pay for an apartment that would be used as a location to lure the intended victim. Chavez also provided the undercover officer with co-conspirator 1’s phone number.
As stated in his plea agreement, on September 26, 2019, in a meeting with the undercover officer, co-conspirator 1 gave the intended victim’s phone number to the undercover officer to communicate with co-conspirator 1. Chavez also provided the undercover officer with a picture of the intended victim.
Law enforcement was able to identify the intended victim with the information provided by Chavez and the co-conspirator and detained the intended victim in California in order to prevent the murder.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron praised the HSI for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Y. Oldham and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Romano, who prosecuted the case.
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