1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Fawn E. Thomas, Public Affairs Specialist

November 8, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Augusta Resident Arrested on Murder-for-Hire Complaint

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 49-year old Augusta, West Virginia, woman was arrested on November 8, 2011, in Hampshire County.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that BRENDA LEE SWISHER was named in a two-count federal criminal complaint charging her with one count of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and one count of causing interstate travel in the commission of a murder-for-hire. SWISHER appeared on November 8, 2011, before a Federal Magistrate Judge in Martinsburg and was remanded, without bond, to the custody of the United States Marshals and is scheduled for a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing in Federal Court on Thursday, November 10, 2011, at 10:00 a.m.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas O. Mucklow and was investigated by the Potomac Highlands Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, consisting of officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, West Virginia State Police - Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and Mineral County Sheriff’s Department; the Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, consisting of officers from the West Virginia State Police - Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Martinsburg Police Department, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department; and uniformed officers of the West Virginia State Police.