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Man guilty in murder scheme wanted again
By Times staff writer DADE CITY -- John R. Fabritz goofed when he unwittingly tried to hire an off-duty sheriff's deputy to kill his ex-wife in 1999. Authorities say he goofed again last month, testing positive for opiates while on probation for soliciting to commit first-degree murder. Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb signed a warrant this week for Fabritz' arrest on a charge of violation of probation. Fabritz, 68, of Port Richey, was arrested in October 1999 after he was videotaped trying to hire an undercover deputy at a Wesley Chapel motel to kill his ex-wife. Initially, Fabritz denied the charges, claiming in a letter to the court that he had been drugged by an acquaintance and intimidated by an actor into making a deal for his wife's murder. But in December, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years of probation. His ex-wife agreed to a sentence far less than the 30 years in prison called for by state guidelines, but Fabritz began complaining to the court about the sentence almost immediately. "I am 68 years old. My sentence is too extreme," he wrote in a letter to Cobb. He objected to having to undergo drug counseling, and in February he complained to the Better Business Bureau, claiming his counselor rigged a drug test to force him to pay $300 for a drug counseling course. Based on that test, Cobb signed a warrant for Fabritz' arrest. Friday, the Pasco County jail in Land O'Lakes reported that Fabritz had yet to be booked into jail on the probation violation charge.
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