OKC Man Accused Of Plotting To Kill Girlfriend Waives Right To Jury Trial

An Oklahoma City man accused of plotting to poison his pregnant girlfriend with ricin is expected in an Oklahoma County courtroom Thursday morning.

Preston Rhoads has been under house arrest with his parents in Ada since December of last year after they posted a $200,000 bond. But last month, he and his defense team decided to waive his right to a jury trial. And instead let a judge decide his punishment.

12/8/14 Related Story: OKC Man Accused Of Plotting to Kill Girlfriend With Ricin Bonds Out Of Jail

Preston Rhoads faces two felony counts of solicitation to commit murder and two counts of attempting to kill for the planned attack on his girlfriend and her unborn child.

According to court papers, it was a concerned friend who was also a former coworker that turned Rhoads in to police last April.

That friend said he met with Rhoads at his Oklahoma City home on April 9th, and that Rhoads "showed him a vial and said it contained ricin". He said Rhoads told him that he “downloaded a poison manual from the internet and used the manual to find the method to produce rice from castor beans".

A federal affidavit states Rhoads revealed the information about the ricin because he "wanted to hire the friend to poison Rhoads pregnant girlfriend in order to kill her unborn child".

Rhoads had several scenarios to facilitate the poisoning, "including placing the ricin in a soft drink or sprinkling the ricin on a pizza, and offering money to the coworker so he would pose as a pizza delivery guy."

That coworker refused to do it, and then tipped off local and federal authorities, who then raided Rhoads home and arrested him.

News 9 did reach out to the intended target of this murder plot - the girlfriend who has since had the child. She did not respond to request for an interview.

And when News 9 went to her parent’s home, her mother answered the door, but said they had no comment about the case.

Rhoads could face the maximum sentence of up to life in prison. Two of the lesser counts carry a sentence of anywhere from 0-10 years in prison. The other charges he faces a punishment range from five years to life.