Aurora woman sentenced for soliciting ex-boyfriend's murder
A 28-year-old Aurora woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after her conviction on charges she tried to hire someone to kill her ex-boyfriend in September 2010.
Maricela Arciga, of the 1200 block of Coventry Park, was convicted in summer 2014 of giving an undercover agent $200 and promising him another $1,800 over a two-month period.
Kane County Judge Susan Clancy Boles late Friday issued the sentence, of which Arciga must serve 85 percent, or 17 years.
She also gets credit for nearly 4½ years for the time she has served at the Kane County jail while her case was pending.
According to prosecutors, Arciga told an acquaintance Sept. 22, 2010, she wanted someone to kill her former boyfriend.
The acquaintance told Aurora Police, who set up a meeting four days later between Arciga and an undercover agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
At the meeting, Arciga told the agent she wanted her ex shot and killed and paid the agent $200.
The two had more phone conversations before meeting Oct. 4, 2010, when Arciga agreed to pay her supposed hitman another $1,800 over two months.
Arciga was arrested immediately after the meeting and acknowledged to police she was trying to arrange the man's murder. The man was not harmed.
Arciga printed out a picture of the target to give to the agent, prosecutors said at trial.
Arciga's defense attorney argued she was the victim of entrapment and her romantic involvement with the informant complicated the situation, resulting in reasonable doubt that she was guilty.
Jurors deliberated about six hours before convicting her.
Arciga faced a maximum of 60 years in prison.