Two Massachusetts men are facing federal charges stemming from an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting a witness in a fentanyl drug case and a pair of criminal adversaries, with one defendant indicating he also ”wanted two federal prosecutors murdered,” said Acting US Attorney Joshua Levy’s office.
Elijah Melton, 26, of Middleborough, and Kareem Pires, 25, of Wareham, are each charged with one count of conspiring to commit murder for hire, a crime punishable by up to 10 years behind bars, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
FBI agents arrested Pires on Tuesday, authorities said. Melton was already in custody and will make his initial appearance in US District Court in Boston at a later date.
“Elijah Melton vehemently denies all allegations regarding solicitation of murder,” his attorney, Beau B. Brindley, said in a statement. “A lying cooperating informant attempting to evade the consequences of his own actions has made false claims that we look forward to exposing in court.”
On Tuesday, Pires was ordered to remain in custody pending a June 3 detention hearing. As Pires was led away in handcuffs, his father said “keep your head up, Kareem, we love you” from the back of the courtroom.
His lawyer declined to comment.
Federal prosecutors said Melton was arrested in December in a federal drug case. He was released on conditions but was remanded to custody in February for violating them.
In that case, Melton and a co-defendant were charged with “conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and the distribution of 400 grams or more of fentanyl,” officials said.
A cooperating witness told authorities that Melton, while behind bars, had asked him to kill someone he believed was cooperating with prosecutors, according to Levy’s office.
Melton told the witness that “members of his gang” had placed a bounty on the person and offered to have a juvenile relative bring $75,000 to a family member of the cooperating witness, who told federal authorities he refused the cash, prosecutors said. The total bounty on the person was $150,000, according to court records.
Prosecutors said Melton also asked the witness to kill two people who were “beefing” with his crew. He told the witness that Pires could help him locate the targets.
Melton expected the cooperating witness to be released from custody so he gave him his relative’s phone number and a letter for Pires, prosecutors said.
“Federal authorities reviewed the letter Melton provided the cooperating witness, which allegedly included information, among other things, information concerning the plan to murder the target rivals,” prosecutors said, adding that Melton also said he wanted two prosecutors killed and indicated “he would provide the money to murder the prosecutors personally.”
The cooperating witness arranged to meet Pires in April after his release, prosecutors said.
“They met in a public location, where the cooperating witness delivered [a] second letter to Pires, who allegedly agreed to assemble information, including pictures, about the target witness and the target rivals for the cooperating witness,” prosecutors said.
According to a court affidavit, the cooperating witness “tried to dissuade” Melton from killing prosecutors, “noting this would only attract unwanted law enforcement attention and was a bad idea.”
But Melton was “not deterred” and offered “a car and a gun to carry out the murders,” the affidavit said.
During one secretly recorded conversation on March 14, Melton told the cooperating witness to tell his relative to provide “the [expletive] with the shhh cuz he knows about that, shhh.” The witness replied, “the silencer.”
“Yes,” Melton said, according to the affidavit.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.