Three men indicted for alleged murder plot on local sheriff and judge
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DRIGGS — Three men have been indicted in connection with an alleged murder plot to kill the Teton County sheriff and a Teton County magistrate judge.
Javier Ortiz Lara, 63, Jose Noel Ortiz Salas, 39, and Anthony Dean Wilson, 33, were indicted by a grand jury on April 17 for two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to traffic.
A fourth man, Edgardo Soto, was also indicted for trafficking.
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After the indictment by a grand jury, parts of this case were sealed by Senior District Judge Jonathan Brody, who was appointed to this case by the Idaho Supreme Court.
Court documents were unsealed Wednesday afternoon but remain partially redacted. They show the three men allegedly plotted to murder Teton County Sheriff Clinton Lemieux and Teton County Magistrate Judge Jason Walker.
The redacted indictment says Ortiz Lara, Ortiz Salas, and Wilson “did willfully and knowingly combine and/or conspire to commit murder in the first degree” of Lemieux between the dates of July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023.
The suspects reportedly plotted to murder Walker between July 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023.
Court documents do not cite an alleged motive.
The indictment states that two of the men, who are not identified specifically, “did travel to the State of California to pick up a firearm.”
In August 2022, one of the men allegedly called someone about “putting (redacted) to work.”
Between April 8-20, 2023, one of the men reportedly placed phone calls, instructing someone to travel to California to pick up a firearm.
On or about April 20, one of the suspects allegedly rented or picked up a truck to travel to California to pick up a firearm.
That same month, one or more of the suspects “did practice shooting a new firearm at a half-mile distance.”
The redacted indictment says during this same timeframe between August 1, 2022 and May 1, 2023, Ortiz Lara, Ortiz Salas, Wilson and Soto “did willfully and knowingly combine and/or conspire to traffic” more than 400 grams of cocaine.
Court records say between April 20-23, 2023, one or more of the four men traveled to California to pick up cocaine.
One of the men was allegedly put one of the suspects in charge of distribution in August 2022, and told the group to travel to California to buy drugs.
Court documents say two of the men purchased approximately 1.1 pounds of cocaine and brought it back to Idaho before selling it to an unknown person.
Ortiz Salas and Wilson are both booked into the Jefferson County Jail on $1 million bonds.
Ortiz Lara is currently serving a prison sentence at the Idaho Department of Correction, for two counts of possession of a controlled substance. He is scheduled to be released on July 7, 2028.
It is unclear if Soto was arrested or where he was booked into. EastIdahoNews.com has reached out to the Special Prosecutor Lindsey Blake for clarification but we have not heard back. We will update if we learn more.
Further court hearings have not been scheduled for any of the suspects. If convicted, Ortiz Lara, Ortiz Salas, and Wilson could face the death penalty. Soto could face up to life in prison.
Sheriff Lemieux declined to comment on the case.