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May 13, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Augusta Resident Sentenced to Five Years
on Murder for Hire Charge

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 50-year old Augusta, West Virginia, woman, was sentenced on May 9, 2012, in United States District Court in Martinsburg by Judge John Preston Bailey.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that: BRENDA LEE SWISHER was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. SWISHER entered a plea of guilty on January 11, 2012, to one count of causing an individual to travel in interstate commerce from the State of Virginia to Hampshire County to commit a murder-for-hire for $3,500. SWISHER, who is free on bond, will self-report to the designated Federal institution.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas O. Mucklow and was investigated by the Potomac Highlands Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, consisting of officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, West Virginia State Police - Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and Mineral County Sheriff’s Department; the Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, consisting of officers from the West Virginia State Police - Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Martinsburg Police Department, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department; and uniformed officers of the West Virginia State Police.