CdA man charged with criminal conspiracy

A North Idaho man accused of trying to hire a hit man for $10,000 to kill his ex-wife said in a jailhouse interview that she’s a “black widow.”

She in turn claims he raped her because he divorced her without her knowledge but continued to live with and have sex with her.

Paul W. Driggers, 54, was charged with criminal conspiracy last week by Kootenai County prosecutors and is facing related federal charges, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.

Driggers allegedly offered someone in Northern California $10,000 to come to Idaho and kill his ex-wife.

In the interview last week, Driggers vehemently denied the allegations, saying his ex-wife is schizophrenic and wants revenge.

The woman, whose name isn’t being published under the newspaper’s policy of not identifying victims of alleged sex crimes, could not be reached for comment. She filed a rape complaint against Driggers in February after she said a social worker informed her Driggers had divorced her more than a year earlier. She told Post Falls police she had no idea they were no longer married. If she had, she told police, she wouldn’t have continued to live with – and have sex with – Driggers.

She told police Driggers filed for divorce in Bannock County in Southern Idaho and gave the court a false address for her. When she didn’t respond to the divorce suit, he was granted a divorce by default, according to court records.

Though they were no longer married, Driggers continued to give her anniversary cards and told others they were married, she told police.

He was given full custody of their three children in the divorce, according to court records. Driggers said those children are now in state custody and he hasn’t seen them for eight months.

He alleges his ex-wife “put bruises on one of them so (Child Protective Services) took them.”

According to court records, a misdemeanor injury to child charge was filed against Driggers last fall for allegedly hitting his daughter with a belt. Driggers sent a letter to the magistrate handling the case accusing his former wife of “working full-time and overtime to try to prejudice (his) right to a fair and impartial trial.”

“(She) has been working on getting me into my present predicament for the past two years in detail and for the past seven years planning … to get me out of the way eventually,” Driggers wrote in the letter.

The charge against Driggers was reduced to disturbing the peace through a plea deal with the Post Falls Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

“I’m the one who’s really been abused,” Driggers said last week. He was tearful at times during the interview.

Driggers said he believes the new charges against him are the result of a civil suit he filed against his ex-wife to get back property he believes belongs to him.

The list of items he wants back includes a set of plaques with the phrase “Families are Forever.”

“There’s been such a climate of fear and paranoia in my case that any action I take to try and protect my property is determined as a move toward hurting my ex-wife, to physically hurt my ex-wife,” he said.

Driggers described the property he was after as “things of the heart, things that give root to life, maybe help make a better family for children.”

Driggers said in an interview last week that his ex-wife has made accusations against him in the past that were “proven untrue.” In January, she turned him in for being a felon in possession of a stolen handgun.

She told Post Falls Police that he had threatened to kill her. But her fingerprints were the only ones found on the gun, Driggers’ attorney argued during a Jan. 20 court hearing. The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence.

According to police reports and court testimony, Driggers previously was charged in other states with crimes that include being a felon in possession of a handgun, solicitation to commit murder and drug charges.

The police reports and testimony don’t indicate where those charges were filed and whether Driggers was convicted. Investigators would not comment this week on Driggers’ criminal history or the current case against him.

Driggers said an investigator told him they had proof that he deposited money into an account and asked him for the name of the person he allegedly paid to kill his ex-wife. The investigator told him they saw him deposit money into an account, Driggers said.

“I told him, ‘That doesn’t make sense, officer,’ ” Driggers said.

Though records show he applied for a marriage license with another woman in Spokane County less than a month ago, Driggers didn’t mention her during the interview, and she couldn’t be reached for comment.