HOUSTON COUNTY, Texas — **EDITOR'S NOTE -- the video attached was produced on Nov. 2021 and does not relate to the story.
An East Texas man had pled guilty to murder for hire today in the Eastern District of Texas, according to U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston.
Reynaldo Campos, Jr., 44, of Grapeland, pled guilty to murder for hire in front of the U.S. Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell in connection to a case from Feb. 2022. According to indictment documents, Campos, Jr., contacted an individual he believed to be a hitman to murder a former associate. Campos, Jr., claimed that the intended victim had stolen drugs or owed him money.
The "hitman" that Campos, Jr., intended to hire was actually an undercover federal agent. Campos spoke with the agent regarding the intended murder on multiple occasions over a few weeks, according to documents.
On April 8, Campos, Jr., was joined by his girlfriend, Robin Pittman, to travel from Houston County to the city of Tyler to discuss the murder with the "hitman" and provide him with a handgun and further information on the victim for the murder.
Later in April, on the 13, when Pittman and Campos, Jr., returned to Tyler to discuss more details surrounding the murder with the "hitman", they provided him with approximately one gallon of Phenylacetone (or P2P). P2P is a chemical that is used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.
Campos, Jr., and Pittman also provided the "hitman" with a shotgun as partial payment for the murder on April 13, documents state.
Both Campos, Jr., and Pittman were indicted by a federal grand jury on April 21, 2022. Pittman pled guilty on Aug. 9 to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and is awaiting sentencing.
Campos, Jr., faces upwards of 10 years in federal prison, which is the maximum sentence prescribed by Congress. A sentencing hearing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other factors.
The case is still under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.