Mother denies any involvement in Lake County murder-for-hire plot

'That is the most ridiculous asinine statement,' woman says

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – The Lake County man charged for a botched murder-for-hire plot in an attempt to kill the judge is innocent, according to the man's mother.

Virginia O'Hare told News 6 her son, Robert O'Hare, would never be involved in such a plot and neither would she. Detectives with the Lake County Sheriff's Office said they believe Virginia O'Hare was used as a messenger in the scheme, which deputies eventually thwarted. 

"They (the deputies) discovered some coded messages he and his mom were using to communicate over the jail system," said Lt. John Herrell, with the Lake County Sheriff's Office. 

Deputies have monitored jailhouse phone calls made by Robert O'Hare for more than a year. O'Hare was in jail, accused of possessing child porn and hiding small cameras in jukeboxes to record small children he did not know.

In one of the recorded phone calls, detectives said, O'Hare is heard talking to his mother in a code using a set of numbers that spelled out "kill Briggs," referring to a judge who presided over his case. 

"That is the most ridiculous asinine statement," Virginia O'Hare said. 

On Wednesday, Virginia O'Hare denied her and her son's involvement in the murder-for-hire plot. She refused to answer when asked if she ever spoke to her son in coded language.

"My attorney has asked me not to comment. And I would love to tell you more than this," she said. "My son would never in a million years do any kind of solicitation to kill anybody."


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