Franklin County Prison inmate charged with trying to hire hit man

April 09, 2008|By HEATHER KEELS

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A Franklin County Prison inmate was charged Tuesday with trying to hire a hit man to kill the victim he is charged with shooting in February, Pennsylvania State Police said.

The inmate, Gregory Aaron Rouzer, allegedly conspired with a Mercersburg woman to hire an undercover Pennsylvania State Police trooper to kill the victim, said Cpl. Shawn Flaherty of the McConnellsburg station.

Rouzer, 40, was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and criminal solicitation to commit homicide, Flaherty said. He was being held without bond, police said.

The woman, Mildred J. Tressler, 46, of Reeder Road, was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and hindering apprehension or prosecution by harboring or concealing, Flaherty said. She was being held on $1 million bond at Franklin County Prison Tuesday night, a prison spokesman confirmed.

Rouzer's father, Kenneth Vernon Rouzer, 80, of Possum Hollow Road in Harrisonville, Pa., was also arrested Tuesday, police said. He was charged with delivery of a controlled substance after he allegedly provided the trooper with marijuana and cocaine as a partial payment for the killing, police said.

Kenneth Rouzer was released Tuesday after he posted $100,000 bond before Fulton County Magisterial District Judge Wendy Mellott, police said.

Gregory Rouzer is awaiting trial on the attempted murder charge, which stemmed from a Feb. 7 incident in which police say he shot Fulton County resident Randolph Walters in the elbow, upper arm and neck with a .22-caliber rifle.

Police searched for Gregory Rouzer for about a week before he turned himself in Feb. 15.

Other charges against Gregory Rouzer stemming from the Feb. 7 incident include aggravated assault, possession of instruments of crime and criminal trespass.

Flaherty said the solicitation occurred after Gregory Rouzer was in custody at the prison, but he did not know the exact date.

Walters survived the shooting and was treated at York (Pa.) Hospital and released, troopers said previously.

Police said Walters knew Rouzer, but at a preliminary hearing Feb. 25 in Fulton County Central Court, a district attorney said the motive for the shooting was unclear.

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