Spokane7
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May 11, 2011 in Idaho
Pipe bomb planter sentenced in Steele murder-for-hire
Larry Fairfax
(Full-size photo)
A handyman hired by a North Idaho lawyer to kill his wife was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for an explosive device he strapped to the intended victim’s car.
Larry Fairfax, 50, never told investigators about the pipe bomb when he said he’d been hired by Edgar Steele and agreed to secretly record conversations about the plot for the FBI, which led to Steele’s arrest June 11.
Fairfax was arrested June 15 after Coeur d’Alene auto shop workers found the 12-inch bomb when Cyndi Steele arrived for a routine oil check.
He told the FBI he’d put the device on the car in late May to make Edgar Steele think the plan was proceeding but that he rigged the device so it couldn’t explode.
But bomb experts testified at Steele’s murder-for-hire trial in Boise that the device, which was attached to Steele’s car still had lethal capabilities.
Fairfax apologized today in U.S. District Court in Coeur d’Alene as family and friends looked on.
“I’m sorry I went about doing the right thing the wrong way,” Fairfax said.
“In reality, it’s Edgar Steele who caused this grief,” he continued. “For if it weren’t for Mr. Steele’s plans, none of us would have been here now.”
But he also said his placement of the pipe bomb and his decision not to tell investigators about it was wrong, too.
“I know what I did was wrong and careless, and I’m the only one to blame,” Fairfax said.
Fairfax, a married father of two who grew up in Spokane before moving to North Idaho, pleaded guilty last October to possession of an unregistered firearm and to making a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act in a plea agreement that called for him to testify against Steele and for prosecutors to not file additional charges.
A jury in Boise convicted Steele last Thursday of four federal felonies related to the murder plot. He faces at least 30 years in prison when he’s sentenced Aug. 22.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan asked for Fairfax to receive 30 months in prison. His lawyer, John Miller, asked Judge B. Lynn Winmill allow Fairfax to leave jail with credit for 11 months already served. He said Fairfax had “horrible methods” but “correct motives” because he never intended to harm Cyndi Steele and helped arrest her husband.
Winmill said he believes Fairfax likely did not intend to kill Cyndi Steele and only wanted to to obtain the silver from Edgar Steele by lying to him.
He said Fairfax “probably did save Mrs. Steele’s life” and that “in a very odd way” he’s both a hero and anti-hero.
“This was an interesting case, to say the least,” Winmill said.
Fairfax will be credited for 11 months already spent in jail. In addition to 16 more months in prison, Fairfax will be on probation for three years and is to pay $9,690 in restitution to cover the silver he’d accepted from Steele. He’s to pay $1,076 for bomb recovery efforts, $860 for lost business at the Quik Lube and $900 to Cyndi Steele for car costs and other fees.
Before Winmill’s decision, Cyndi Steele called Fairfax “the vilest form of a villain, a parasite on society,” “a cowardly villain” and a true sociopath” and said he deserved no less than life in prison.
She referenced Fairfax’s plans to write a book about the case called “An Act of Defiance,” which her husband’s lawyers said during trial is meant to portray Fairfax as a hero.
“No Larry Fairfax, you are not a hero. What you are is the most evil person I have ever had the displeasure of knowing,” Cyndi Steele said.
Steele said Fairfax’s true motive was to kill her and put her husband in prison to hide his theft of $45,000 in silver. She said “influential people” are protecting him because they share the same interests and said Fairfax helped manufacture the recordings of her husband discussing the plot.
Steele reported the silver missing after her husband’s arrest. Prosecutors obtained records from coin shops that show her husband cashed in about that same amount of silver in April as he prepared for a summer visit to Europe to meet a 25-year-old woman he contacted through an online dating website.
Steele, who says her husband’s correspondence with the woman was part of his research into the Russian mail order bride scam, said she’ll be putting all her effort into her husband’s appeal, then removed her red sweater to reveal her “Free Edgar Steele” T-shirt.
Miller said he and Fairfax “hope that someday (Cyndi Steele) can come to the understanding that his man saved her life.”
He said Fairfax has weathered much slander from Steele’s supporters since his arrest.
“He’s going to be dealing with the slander for a long, long time,” he said. “The blogs are going to be there.”
But Miller said the conspiracy allegations are “just nonsense” and questioned why his client would steal just $45,000 in silver when more than $100,000 was available.
“This man’s actions have probably saved up to 12 lives,” Miller said, referring to Fairfax’s claim that Steele had a list of 12 people he wanted to kill.
Human trafficking suspects released 
ericdx on May 11 at 5:19 p.m.
She is as nutty as her husband. They both need to be locked up. The husband in prison, and her in the looney bin…
Penswoman on May 11 at 6:52 p.m.
Before Winmill’s decision, Cyndi Steele called Fairfax “the vilest form of a villain, a parasite on society,” “a cowardly villain” and a true sociopath” and said he deserved no less than life in prison.”
Cindy is describing Edgar Steele without realizing it. But, it is pretty apparent that he has left sociopath behind for full-blown psychopath. The pre-sentencing psychological report will be a doozy.
Chompers on May 12 at 6:38 a.m.
Local haters aside, we see in plain view the sorry facts… The Amerikan government, policing & investigative agencies, judicial system - a.k.a. “the powers that be” - are lawless, weapon-empowered thugs with no shred of integrity, no responsibility to the citizens who are taxed (and arrested) to fund their staff, and operate with a complete absence of impartiality, honesty or equity.
TPTB seek self-perpetuation, continual expansion, employment of staff and administration who loath the citizens they are to serve, and essentially glory in being above the law.
TPTB make no distinction between legal and illegal behavior when it comes to controlling others, silencing dissidents, extorting the innocent.
TPTB are - at various critical levels - paid to be corrupt, and have assembled a massive local, county, district, state and federal machinery that is getting close to making cold-war Communist Russia look like a child’s lemonade stand.
Folks, tyranny is alive and well today, in sleepy north Idaho and throughout Amerika. Much of “the police state” is already operating. TPTB fear citizens, and with the help of print and broadcast Media, work tirelessly to give advantage to the worse elements of society while abusing, oppressing and jailing the best elements of society. Wake up. You are next if you think for yourself.
hipshotpercusion on May 12 at 7:10 a.m.
I wouldn’t shed a tear if somebody shanked this waste of skin when he hits population. He richly deserves it for what he has done to the Steele family.
gailandmarshall on May 12 at 8:43 p.m.
Something tells me, Hip, that you’re not the kind of person to shed a tear over anyone.
hipshotpercusion on May 13 at 9:10 a.m.
For you, etapravda.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Corporation of Amerika and to the Police State for which it stands. One nation no longer under God, with no liberty, and no justice for anyone at all!”
copyright 1999 by the hippybiker
And, for you gailandmarshall….I cry for my once great country and not for low order scum like Fairfax, and the even lower scum that enabled him to do what he did to the Steele’s.
misjustice on May 13 at 6:42 p.m.
Well, hip, since you hate Amerika and all, you are free to leave; I know, it would be hard to find a country that would take you…
BTW, Steeles is not possesive…it is plural.
Just sayin’.
; )
1984isHere on May 14 at 6:45 p.m.
Nice job, Meghann. You’ve showed your true colors, after all. We don’t have an objective media in this country anymore. Your summary of Edgar’s conviction was disgusting, immature, vicious, and unprofessional. I find the final lines that you chose, in your previous entry, to conclude with regarding the FBI’s report on the “fecal odor” that supposedly arose in the air when Edgar was confronted with a clever “ruse” about his wife’s death to be a frightful descent into yellow journalism. No, actually, I wouldn’t even credit you with that because the word journalism actually refers to an occupation that adults have. Your writing stinks of the gossip corner of the 2nd grade lunchroom.
The unfortunate thing is that you didn’t even have the decency to consider the feelings of the rest of Edgar’s family.
What is it that makes people like you operate? Are you even human? I believe that you may not even be conscious of the rabid animus that drives you (it would be even more insidious if you were). You may even think that you are standing up for something. For what, I ask? You played right into the hands of a machine intent on steamrolling a decent man and his entire family.
This whole farce of a case has been a travesty of justice, from start to finish. Not once did you put your neck on the line and attempt to perform the function of a real truth-teller. You did NOT speak Truth to Power. Not a single challenge! You were in a position to ask disturbing questions about the ridiculous way that the government has handled itself on this case and you did nothing. You’re just another small cowardly voice adding weight to the howl that is intent on destroying this once great country.
Shame on you.
Penswoman on May 14 at 10:40 p.m.
Edgar Steele convicted himself. He contrived an easily seen through plot to kill his wife and mother-in-law, collect life insurance payments and their estates, then flee to eastern Europe to be with a 25-year-old woman. The plot, predictably, failed.
Nor is anyone who can read under the impression Edgar Steele is an honorable person. His writings on the Internet, rife with bigotry, book defending racism and decades long association with neo-Confederates and neo-Nazis establish that he is a white supremacist and anti-Semite who has no regrets.
Steeles’ family may have been manipulated by this psychopath. But, it is their responsibility to break free of his control. Instead, Cyndi, Rex and Kelsey Steele have continued to aid and abet this hateful man to their own detriment.
hipshotpercusion on May 15 at 12:13 p.m.
mis(sic)justice. I happen to love what My country used to stand for. I won’t leave her in her time of need. I will stay and fight for what the founders of this country believed in, not what we live under today.
For penswoman, Mr. Steele’s personal beliefs had nothing to do with this case, but then you drank Meghann’s poison Koolaid didn’t you? Your hatred seethes out in your diatribe against Mr. Steele, so we know where you stand. A great American once said “Life is tough, but its even tougher when your stupid.” John Wayne
misjustice on May 16 at 8:42 a.m.
@ hip; in this case “your” should be a contraction for YOU ARE. And “its” is also a contraction for IT IS.
Hence your pithy quote should read “life is tough, but it’s even tougher when you’re stupid”.
Just sayin’…
; )
hipshotpercusion on May 16 at 9:32 a.m.
Well, excuse my typo. Biotch!