The intended victim of a murder-for-hire plot involving two members of the San Manuel Band of Mission
Indians faked his own death and went into hiding to avoid being killed, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
Leonard Epps was told by police to leave the state and cut ties with his family. He remains in hiding even after two tribal members and a third person who is connected to the Mexican Mafia pleaded guilty for their attempt to murder him.
Epps, however, says Stacy Cheyenne Barajas-Nunez, her brother Erik Barajas and the Mafia member, Salvador Orozco Hernandez, are getting off easy. "These people are being considered for short-term sentences, using house arrest and probation," Epps wrote in a victim statement being read in court today. "Wow, to think that it is okay to seek out the services of death through murder-for-hire and get a pass on liability."
Epps believes he was targeted because he may have witnessed the attempted murder of one of his friends by another tribal member. The friend was subsequently murdered.
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Murder-for-hire plot sentences too light, intended victim says
(The Riverside Press-Enterprise 8/7)
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