SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (AP) β Sierra Vista police have arrested a former Cochise County sheriff's deputy for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Detectives had been investigating a murder-for-hire case involving a man who wanted to have someone kill another local man. Police are accusing former deputy Israel Burkholder of being the man behind the plot.
Burkholder was arrested Sunday and booked into the Cochise County jail. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
The Sierra Vista Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2f9CD6u) the man that was the target of the plot was a local resident against whom the former deputy allegedly had a grudge.
Police say Burkholder hasn't worked in law enforcement for about a year. He resigned in 2015 following an incident in which he accepted prescription painkillers from another deputy, who also resigned.
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Information from: Sierra Vista Herald, http://www.svherald.com
