Man charged in plot to kill state officials pleads guilty

An Albuquerque man charged in a thwarted plot to kill two top New Mexico corrections officials has pleaded guilty after reaching an agreement with federal prosecutors.

The Albuquerque Journal reports 42-year-old Christopher Garcia on Thursday entered guilty pleas in a Las Cruces federal courtroom to violent crimes in aid of racketeering conspiracy to murder, felon in possession of a firearm and racketeering conspiracy.

Garcia is expected to be sentenced to 30 years in federal prison under the agreement.

The agreement says Garcia is a member of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico prison gang, and he provided a gun that was to be used in the 2015 plot to kill then-Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel and another official.

Court documents say he also planned to have the assassin killed after Marcantel’s death.