Steven Martinez, age 51, was arrested on Friday on charges of witness tampering in a murder for hire plot.

Martinez was charged last year with fraud,money laundering, and making and procuring false returns. In that case, he was accused of informing his tax clients that they owed significant amounts of taxes. He had his clients issue checks that were deposited in trust accounts. He covered up that fraud by filing false tax returns to the federal and state governments and the California Franchise Tax Board to the tune of $11 million.

The former IRS revenue agent and CPA attempted to tamper in that case by trying to hire a former employee to murder two of the witnesses in that case. He offered the man $100,000 two weeks ago to kill the two females. He supplied the man with color photographs and personal identifying information of the women who were slated to testify against him. He suggested to his former employee that he consider using a silencer equiooed firearm to carry out the murders.

The man that Martinez had approached to do the job, instead went to the FBI and informed them of Martinez’s plan.

Through last week, FBI agents, working with the U.S. Attorney’s office collected evidence against Martinez. He was arrested without incident on Oberlin Drive in San Diego on Friday.

Martinez is due in court today to enter his plea. He is currently booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego.