Laguna Beach Man Convicted Of Plotting To Kidnap, Torture, Kill Federal Judge

SANTA ANA (AP) — A convicted con man from Southern California has been found guilty of plotting the kidnap, torture and murder of a federal judge, two prosecutors and two FBI agents.

John Walthall was convicted in federal court Tuesday of soliciting a crime of violence.

Prosecutors say the former Laguna Beach man plotted the death of a judge who, in 2012, sentenced him to 14 years in federal prison for running a phony gold-mining investment scheme.

Prosecutors say Walthall also sought the deaths of the FBI investigators and the prosecutors in the case.

Walthall told an undercover FBI agent in prison that he wanted them dead and the judge put in a wood chipper.

His attorney argued that Walthall was entrapped by jailhouse informants.

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