A Daggett County man charged in U.S. District Court with attempting to hire another person to kill a deputy sheriff waived a preliminary hearing Tuesday in an Ogden drug case.
Modesto Mendicoa, 50, Manila, appeared before 2nd Circuit Judge W. Brent West to waive the hearing. West set an arraignment hearing for June 3 in 2nd District Court.Assistant Weber County Attorney Chris Davis said the defendant is charged with attempting to buy a pound of cocaine from an undercover narcotics officer last fall. The cocaine was worth about $15,000.
Mendicoa is charged with a second-degree felony in Weber County and he could be sentenced to serve from one to 15 years in prison, if convicted.
The defendant is scheduled to appear for trial on June 15 in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City for allegedly hiring another person to kill Daggett County Sheriff Gaylen Garvie last fall.
U.S. prosecutor Bruce Lubeck said Tuesday that Mendicoa is charged with use of interstate commerce in the commission of murder for hire.
"He's (Mendicoa) accused of attempting to hire someone to travel from another state to come here and harm someone," Lubeck said.
Mendicoa is also facing sentencing on eight convictions of cattle rustling in Green River, Wyo.
Court records state that the defendant was found guilty on April 16 of four counts of unlawful transportation of livestock and four counts of livestock rustling in Sweetwater County.
The judge has yet to schedule a sentencing date.