Man gets 30 years in murder for meth plot

A 32-year-old Yakima man was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill his ex-girlfriend and planning to pay for the deed with a pound of methamphetamine.

The United States Attorney’s Office said Gerardo Maderos Loreto, a Norteno gang member, devised the plot to kill his ex-girlfriend while serving a state prison sentence in March 2016 for violating a protective order she took out against him. After learning she was pregnant with another man’s child, Loreto mailed a letter to someone with her name, location and why he wanted her murdered.

Loreto also wrote that he would pay one pound of methamphetamine in return for her murder, the attorney’s office said in a release.

Yakima Police Department’s gang unit got the letter and a July 2016 federal indictment charged Loreto with the use of mail to commit murder for hire. He was arrested for the charge the day he completed his state prison sentence, the release said.

Loreto – who was detained in the Yakima County Jail – continued using gang connections to hire someone to murder his ex-girlfriend, the attorney’s office said.

A January indictment charged Loreto with use of the mail to commit murder for hire, use of a telephone to commit murder for hire, conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute and attempt to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Loreto was found guilty in May of all charges.