Minnesota inmate accused of plotting witness attack

Published 9:13 am Wednesday, January 1, 2014

OLIVIA — An inmate being held in the Renville County Jail on a burglary charge is accused of offering a man $10,000 to kill a witness and assault her mother.

Fourty-seven-year-old Ronald James Anderson of Echo faces three new charges, including conspiracy to commit murder.

The criminal complaint says he told someone he wanted to hire someone to assault or kill a witness. The other person was later fitted with an electronic recording device, which prosecutors said recorded Anderson offering $10,000 to kill the witness.

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The complaint says he later used a jail phone to tell someone there was a “100 percent chance” the burglary case would now go in his favor.

A message left with his public defender Tuesday was not immediately returned.