LOCKPORT, N.Y. – A Lockport husband has been convicted of hatching a murder-for-hire conspiracy to kill his wife and mother-in-law so they could not testify against him on charges he assaulted and threatened to kill his wife.

Benito Lendof-Gonzalez, 34, a citizen of the Dominican Republic in the U.S. on a green card, was found guilty Friday by a jury on two counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of second-degree murder and one count of criminal solicitation.

Prosecutors said he solicited a fellow Niagara County Jail inmate to drug and poison his wife and mother-in-law in May of 2016 in return for turning over ownership of a mobile home Lendof-Gonzalez and his wife owned.

Michael Shepherd, 29, Niagara Falls, N.Y., agreed to the deal upon his release from jail, then tipped off authorities to the murder plot and cooperated with them in gathering evidence against Lendof-Gonzalez, including recorded phone-calls saying the murders had been carried out.

Lendof-Gonzalez was in jail at the time on charges of assault tied to a domestic violence incident in which police said he violently choked his wife and put a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her.

Prosecutors said he wanted his wife, Kayleigh Schmidt, and her mother, Corey Hildebrand, killed so they could not testify against him at his trial on the assault charges.

Lendof-Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 15 on his attempted murder-for-hire conviction. He faces 20 years to life in prison.

Details for this story were provided by the Lockport, New York, Union-Sun & Journal.