Priscilla Ellis, Retaliating Against Witness, Victim, or Informant, Texas 2016

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Texas Woman Charged in Murder-for-Hire Plot

Tampa, FL – Priscilla Ellis, a 51-year-old woman from Killeen, Texas, has been charged with retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant, a federal crime. If convicted, Ellis faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison.

According to the complaint, Ellis was convicted on October 21, 2016, of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit international money laundering following a three-week trial. The next day, she began soliciting a fellow inmate to help her find a hit man to murder two people in retaliation for testimony given at trial. One was a key witness for the government, and the other was the mother of another witness who had pleaded guilty and was cooperating against Ellis.

During recorded conversations with the inmate and undercover agents posing as co-conspirators, Ellis told the agent posing as the hit man that the first witness’s child should be killed along with the witness, if necessary. Ellis also described the manner in which she wanted the cooperating witness’s mother to be killed. Ellis agreed to have her daughter in Texas take money obtained from another fraudulent scheme and give it to the hit man as partial payment for the two murders, which the daughter in fact did at Ellis’s direction.

A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Eric Gerard and Patrick Scruggs.

Ellis’s actions are a clear example of the dangers of retaliation against those who cooperate with law enforcement. We will do everything in our power to ensure that justice is served in this case.