Charges Filed Against Suspect In Murder Plot Investigation

This morning, the district attorney filed four felony counts against Preston Rhoads, who has been at the Oklahoma County jail since last Thursday.<br />

Friday, April 25th 2014, 11:29 am

By: News 9


This morning, the district attorney filed four felony counts against Preston Rhoads, who has been at the Oklahoma County jail since last Thursday.

Right now, Rhoads faces two counts of solicitation to commit murder and two counts of attempting to kill another.

The charges state Rhoads solicited a former coworker to kill his girlfriend and unborn child with ricin and even offered him a sum of money to do it.

4/18/2014 Related Story: Arrest Made In Oklahoma City Murder-For-Hire Investigation

It also said Rhoads was thwarted from completing the murder-for-hire plot because of the intervention of law enforcement.

The district attorney credits that coworker with saving that pregnant girlfriend's life.

The state arrest warrant reads very much like the federal search warrant and Affidavit unsealed two days ago.

It states the FBI was contacted by that former coworker, who informed them that Rhoads and him exchanged a series of text messages on April 7, and when they met in person at Rhoads home on April 9, Rhoads asked if he was familiar with the show "Breaking Bad" and showed him a vial of white powder claiming it was ricin.

4/22/2014 Related Story: New Federal Court Documents Outline Motive In Murder Plot Investigation

Rhoads told the former coworker he had downloaded a poison manual from the Internet on how to manufacture it and went on to tell him he wanted to hire him to poison his girlfriend and her unborn child.

It states Rhoads had several scenarios to facilitate the poisoning, including placing the ricin in a soft drink, or sprinkling the ricin on a pizza and offering money to the coworker so he would pose as a pizza delivery guy.

It states Rhoads even suggested for the coworker to shoot the girlfriend with his rifle or running the girlfriend off the road in a rental car.

The coworker refused and contacted police, which resulted in a joint investigation by the Oklahoma City Police Department and the FBI.

4/23/2014 Related Story: More Details Released In Murder Plot Investigation In OKC

The two agencies raided Rhoads' house last Thursday. They collected evidence from the house while donning hazard suits.

Several officers had to go through decontamination procedures, and the FBI confirms the police cars used to hold and transport Rhoads were shipped off to the Edmond police training facility to be processed and tested for chemicals.

The FBI cannot comment on those tests at this time.

Multiple sources confirm to News 9 that a substance found in Rhoads' home tested positive for Ricin. However, the substance was only found inside the home and police officers were not exposed.

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