RAMONA: Man pleads guilty to murder-for-hire plot

A former Internal Revenue Service agent whose tax preparation business catered to wealthy clientele pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to ordering four former customers killed before they testified against him on fraud charges.

Steven Martinez, 51, was charged last year with stealing $11 million by preparing bogus tax returns for his customers. He pleaded guilty Friday to a total of 12 counts, including murder-for-hire, witness tampering, Social Security fraud, filing false tax returns and money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Federal prosecutors say an individual asked by Martinez to carry out the killings turned to the FBI on Feb. 28 to report the plot.

According to the complaint, Martinez told the would-be assassin he could “make him rich for the rest of his life” if he “eliminated the lady in Rancho Santa Fe and the lady in La Jolla.”

Martinez admitted in court that he tried to prevent his former clients’ testimony by offering $100,000 for their murders. He also admitted that he provided the would-be assassin with four written packets of detailed information about the former clients, including photos and other personal information.

Martinez admitted that he filed false tax returns and defrauded his clients by stealing more than $11 million in tax payments. He presented his clients with completed tax returns indicating that they owed a significant amount in taxes. Then, he requested that the clients write checks payable to a bogus client trust account, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Martinez used the money to buy real estate, a beach home in Mexico and make payments of more than $2 million for his personal use of credit cards.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 30.