Downstate man admits to murder plot

BENTON -- A Dec. 5 sentencing date is set for a former southern Illinois man who plotted to have witnesses killed in a sexual-assault case that eventually landed him in state prison.

Thirty-nine-year-old Edward Bareiter Junior pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Benton to two felony counts related to the murder-for-hire plot.

Federal prosecutors say Bareiter was jailed in Clinton County in the summer of 2006 when he tried to arrange the slayings of witnesses to prevent them from testifying against him.

Bareiter is now imprisoned in the Pinckneyville Correctional Center, with a projected parole date of March 2023.

The federal charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.