Two Women Sentenced for Trying to Hire Hit Man

The mother and aunt of two suspects in a drug case have been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill two witnesses in the case.

Martha Walters, 42, and her sister, Carmen Elenes-Fonseca, 41, of San Diego pleaded guilty to using interstate telephone lines in a plot to kill two prosecution witnesses. Walters, whose sons--fugitive Vincent Walters, 23, and Martin Walters, 22--are suspects in the drug case, was also fined $8,000 by U.S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Tom Ferraro said Tuesday that the women paid $5,000 to a man who was actually a police informant to kill two witnesses in the case.

No murder attempt was made, as authorities had secretly videotaped the transaction. The sisters were arrested Dec. 26.

Vincent Walters’ whereabouts remain unknown. He and his brother have been charged, along with 90 other people, with drug offenses stemming from a sting conducted in 1988 and 1989 by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, in which drug dealers were videotaped buying equipment at a DEA-operated store.

Martin Walters also faces sentencing Nov. 15 for first-degree murder in the September, 1988, death of Kristine Reyes, 21.