A Wesley man has accepted a plea deal after being accused of trying to hire an undercover agent to kill his estranged wife. Fifty-one-year-old George Bennett was facing an attempted murder charge after meeting with an undercover agent in Lake City, giving the agent money as a down payment to have his wife, Debbie, killed.

The agent testified on Wednesday in the first day of Bennett’s trial, with testimony including three telephone audio recordings with Bennett and another recording of the meeting where Bennett supposedly gave the agent the money. When the trial resumed on Thursday, a plea deal was announced with the attempted murder charge dropped.

Bennett agreed to plead guilty to four counts of solicitation to commit murder and one count of solicitation to commit felonious criminal mischief, all Class D felonies. Bennett will face up to five years on each count when he’s sentenced on April 26th.

By Chuck Shockley, KLGA, Algona