Man jailed on child-sex charges now accused of plot to kill teen

In jail on child-sex charges, a Salt Lake man has been accused of offering to pay his former cellmate to kill a teenage girl and her family to prevent them from testifying in court.

Dennis Lingmann, 46, offered his one-time cellmate $16,000 to kill the 14-year-old girl and her parents, according to charges filed Thursday in 3rd District Court.

Lingmann and the cellmate discussed the plot multiple times over about a two-week stretch in March, according to the charges.

"If I'm going to do 20 to 30 years in prison, might as well (kill her)," Lingmann said, according to the charges. "If I can't have her, no one can have her."

After a transfer, the cellmate wrote a letter to law enforcement officials alerting them of the conversations.

With help from police, the former cellmate recorded a two-hour conversation with Lingmann in March, during which the two talked about "burning the house, with the whole family inside."

Lingmann, who is to be sentenced Friday on felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and stalking, now faces six first-degree felony charges of solicitation to commit aggravated murder. Those charges are punishable by up to life in prison if Lingmann is convicted.

— Aaron Falk