BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (WPRI) — A registered sex offender charged with abducting a 12-year-old girl in Burrillville last year is now accused of attempting to hire a hitman from jail, according to a court affidavit obtained by 12 News.
Chandler Cardente, 27, has been held without bail at the ACI since his arrest in December.
Soon after his arraignment, investigators caught wind that Cardente was seeking out a hitman to murder his victim, the affidavit says.
Last Friday, Cardente made an outgoing call from the ACI’s intake center to an undercover Rhode Island State Police detective, during which he reportedly said: “I got a twelve-year-old witness, and she needs to end up dead … you’re okay with that?”
“She’s a witness, she needs to go. I don’t care how she does it,” Cardente added, according to the affidavit.
At one point during the conversation, the detective offered Cardente a chance to change his mind, to which he replied: “I’m going to go to sleep at night so, I’m fine with it. I just need it done before I get indicted.”
The affidavit says Cardente provided the detective with the girl’s name and address. He also arranged to pay $200 in cash, along with $1,500 worth of tattoo equipment.
Cardente has since been charged with soliciting another to commit murder, on top of the charges he was already facing from the abduction.
According to police, Cardente lured the girl into his car after chatting with her online for several months while posing as a 17-year-old boy. Having been convicted of first-degree child molestation in 2014, Cardente eventually kicked the girl out of his car when he learned police were looking for him.
Police said they later found the girl curled up on the side of the road in Warwick.
