FBI: Ex-aide to US Rep Bob Brady target in murder-for-hire

Milton Cranford, an Arkansas lobbyist, was arrested last month with a .45-caliber pistol and nearly $18,000 in cash that authorities say he planned to pay the hit man.

    By
  • Associated Press
    • March 14, 2018
(Shutterstock.com)

(Shutterstock.com)

Federal authorities say a former political consultant to U.S. Rep. Bob Brady of Pennsylvania was the target of a murder-for-hire plot in connection with a corruption investigation in Arkansas and Missouri.

Court documents filed Monday in Missouri show 56-year-old Milton Cranford tried to hire a hit man to kill 62-year-old Donald Jones. Authorities say Jones was targeted because Cranford was afraid he would be implicated in a $1 million bribery scheme involving a Missouri nonprofit.

Cranford, an Arkansas lobbyist, was arrested last month with a .45-caliber pistol and nearly $18,000 in cash that authorities say he planned to pay the hit man.

Cranford’s attorney denies the accusations, calling them “mischaracterizations” from “highly questionable sources.”

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Prosecutors say charges related to the alleged murder plot are likely forthcoming, pending the result of the ongoing investigation.

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