Los Osos Man Charged in Murder for Hire Plot

A Los Osos man is being held in San Luis Obispo County Jail with no bail charged with allegedly trying to hire someone to murder a business associate he was having a dispute with.

The San Luis Obispo Police Department says its Special Enforcement Team set up a meeting with the suspect, 52 year old Anthony Gene Stevens, in a public parking lot in Arroyo Grande after learning Stevens was looking for someone to hire to carry out the murder.

SLOPD says during the meeting Thursday night in the shopping center parking lot, Stevens provided the undercover detective with the victim’s personal information such as his name, home address and pictures of the intended victim.

“We did receive information a few days ago that Mr. Stevens had made some comments about wanting to hire someone to kill the victim who is a business associate of his”, says San Luis Obispo Police Lt. John Bledsoe, “we were able to meet Mr. Stevens and he did in fact negotiate a deal with the person that met him, which was one of our undercover officers, he returned with the cash to seal the deal, and and that point he met the elements of the crime and was taken into custody.”

Stevens was arrested at the scene without incident and booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail on a charge of solicitation to commit murder.

There is a “No Bail” order against Stevens due to the severity of the charge.

The SLO County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms provided assistance with the operation to make sure the undercover detective and the general public were safe.

Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to call the SLO Police Department at 805-781-7317 or Crime Stoppers at 805-549-7867.