Man Sentenced For Hiring Hit Man

A murder-for-hire plot foiled by the would-be hit man has landed a 55-year-old Puyallup man in prison.

Stephen Kay Weinstone was sentenced in Pierce County Superior Court to 16 years, 4 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty last month to criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

Weinstone paid Robert Gaidosh a $500 down payment on April 10, 1996, to kill Neil Yuckert, his girlfriend’s former husband, according to court documents. He provided Gaidosh with Yuckert’s photo and directions to his house, and promised another $500 after the job was done.

Yuckert was to be shot to death using a pistol and hollow-point bullets provided by Weinstone, the papers said.

Weinstone also told the hitman he wanted to drive by the intended victim’s house and see his body being hauled away by the medical examiner.

But a guilt-stricken Gaidosh told Yuckert about the planned hit, prosecutors said, despite earlier threats from Weinstone, who had pulled a shotgun and threatened the lives of Gaidosh and his family if the plot was revealed.