MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa. -- A Westmoreland County man is accused of trying to hire someone to run his estranged wife off the road while she was driving and to kill her horses, the district attorney's office said.

Erica Mendicino, of Mount Pleasant, is safe, and so are her two horses. But she said a county detective told her the alleged plan was for her to receive a dead fish and a black rose on her porch as a sign of things to come.

"My heart was in my stomach. I was at a loss for words," she said.

The district attorney's office said Mendicino's husband, Joseph, called an undercover detective who he thought was a hitman and offered to pay him $1,500.

Joseph Mendicino was already being held in the county prison on a violation of a protection-from-abuse order. He remains in custody on new charges of solicitation to commit aggravated assault and retaliation against a witness.

"I hope he stays in jail where he can be watched," Erica Mendicino said.

Erica Mendicino testified against Joseph Mendicino at a hearing on Nov. 17. According to the criminal complaint, Joseph Mendicino's phone call with the detective happened between Nov. 13 and Nov. 18.

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