A Philadelphia woman was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband, a plan that unraveled when the hit man turned out to be an FBI agent.
Cecilia Wadley, 50, of the 6000 block of West Jefferson Street in Overbrook, sat quietly and looked dejected as U.S. District Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. imposed the sentence, which is mandated under federal sentencing guidelines.
"The defendant has been found guilty of a very serious crime," Reed said.
Wadley was convicted in July by a U.S. District Court jury of using a telephone to try to arrange the death of her husband of six years, Clifford.
According to trial testimony, Wadley contacted Ernest Williams, an inmate at a New Jersey prison, about having her husband killed. Williams, hoping to win early release, tipped off authorities.
On Dec. 18, 1991, in a telephone conversation recorded by the FBI, Williams promised to send a hit man to meet with Wadley. The hit man, according to testimony, was undercover agent Ron Nolan.
