A preliminary hearing is scheduled October 4th for a St Joseph man accused in a murder-for-hire scheme. The woman he allegedly conspired with is scheduled for preliminary hearing September 27th. Both are being held without bond.

Doyle Brant was behind bars already on charges of rape and statutory sodomy. Authorities filed court documents saying that he conspired to murder the witness in those cases. In a court affidavit, Brant is accused of transferring money to Alesia Rivera, who is accused of contacting a man and arranging to have the witness killed. Officials say that alleged “hitman” was in fact a confidential informant.

Rivera and Brant were arraigned Friday in Buchanan County court. Both are both being held without bond on one count of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.

According to online court records, Brant was charged with statutory sodomy in February and four counts of statutory rape in May. Court documents indicate the girl was 14 years old when the first incident occurred. Brant is 69. The victim is now 21.

In earlier court documents, a deputy with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said that Mr Brant “has a history of continuing harassing behavior with the crime victim, repeatedly calling, texting, and arriving at same locations after crime victim has attempted to break all contact with the suspect.”  (find more here)