Cranston Man Entices Girl For Sex, Launches Murder-For-Hire Plot: Feds

CRANSTON, RI — A registered sex offender from Cranston was indicted by a federal jury Wednesday after prosecutors said he enticed a 12-year-old girl to do sex acts with him and later launched a murder-for-hire plot from within state prison to kill her as a witness.

Chandler John Cardente, 28, beginning in December 2021, used social media to talk to the victim on several occasions before having sexual contact with her, prosecutors said. Cardente was arrested that month.

But while Cardente was being detained at the ACI in Cranston, Cardente made phone calls in an attempt to hire someone to kill the victim, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said he offered $200 in cash and $1,500 worth of equipment in exchange for the killing. Cardente told the person he called that the victim needed "to end up dead" because she was a "witness," authorities said.

Cardente was charged in the indictment with enticement of a minor, committing a felony offense involving a minor while being a registered sex offender and interstate murder-for-hire.