The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source:
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:39 PM
Florida Man Offered Undercover Hitman $15k, Sports Car To Kill His 12-Year Old Victim/Witness He Molested
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 26-year-old Richard Palmer asked his cellmate if he knew anyone willing to kill the young girl and two witnesses and burn their house to the ground. He said he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.
“Just when you think this man can’t get any lower, after being arrested for doing horrible things to a child, now he’s trying to hire someone to kill her and the witnesses,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The cellmate notified authorities, giving investigators a hand-drawn map to the victim’s house. An undercover detective posed as a hitman that Palmer “hired.”
Authorities said Palmer offered the “hitman” a payment of $15,000 and a sports car.
Palmer is now accused of solicitation to commit murder and arson.
Court records show that the molestation case dates back to February 2013, when the girl – who was younger than 12 – said she awoke to find Palmer next to her in bad with his hands inside her underwear.
Palmer has been in jail since September, when he was accused of battering a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. That arrest led to his bail being revoked in the molestation case, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Lucia I. Suarez Sang is a Reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @luciasuarezsang