Man Gets 20 Years for Trying to Arrange Murder From Prison

He offered to pay an undercover officer posing as a hit man $15,000 in cash in exchange for the murder of the woman

A northwest suburban Buffalo Grove man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after he admitted he tried to arrange the murder of a woman while he was in jail for a domestic-battery case tied to her, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Mikhail “Mike” Gelzin was serving a 180-day sentence at the Cook County Jail in 2011 for repeatedly violating the terms of an order of protection filed against him after a 2009 domestic battery arrest in north suburban Wilmette.

After that incident, Gelzin was arrested again for calling, emailing and driving past the home of the victim.

While in jail, Gelzin tried to find someone to kill the woman he had been charged with battering and harassing, prosecutors said.

Eventually he offered to pay an undercover officer posing as a hit man $15,000 in cash in exchange for the murder of the woman.

Gelzin, now 56, later negotiated the price down to $12,000 for the hit, authorities said.

The native of Russia also told the undercover officer that that he planned to flee the country and live overseas after he was released from jail.

Copyright CHIST - SunTimes
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