Adult film actress from Post Falls pleads guilty to paying ‘hitman’ to kill her child’s father
An adult film actress from Post Falls pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge that she agreed to pay $5,000 to a “hitman” to kill the father of one of her children. The hit man actually was an undercover police officer in Montana.
Katrina L. Danforth, who makes films under the name Lynn Pleasant, was 31 when she was arrested last year on five counts of using interstate commerce in the “commission of murder for hire.”
On Monday, Danforth pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Winmill in Coeur d’Alene.
Federal agents arrested Danforth on Dec. 19 at Spokane International Airport, and she made her initial appearance that day in federal court in Spokane.
The case started, according to court records, when Danforth started discussing with a friend her desire to have the father of one of her children murdered.
The friend gave her the number of a hit man, who actually was a police officer, whom she agreed to meet in October 2018.
“At the meeting, she agreed to pay $5,000 in exchange for the murder” of a man identified only with the initials R.H., court records state. Danforth “had specific requirements that the hitman was to accomplish, such as R.H’s body had to be found and (she) did not care if others who lived in the home were harmed as long as her own child was not harmed.”
Danforth and the prospective hit man met again days later, and she provided him with details about where R.H. worked, photographs and paperwork to help him plan the murder, according to court records.
“On Nov. 10, 2018, Danforth mailed a thank you card with $2,500 in it from Idaho to the hitman’s address in Montana,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan wrote. “This money was the down payment for the hit with the remaining $2,500 to be paid after R.H. was murdered.”
Danforth faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. However, because she has no prior felony convictions, she is expected to face much less prison time.