Alva man paid $5K to have ex-lover's boyfriend killed

A federal judge has ordered a vape shop owner from Alva to serve more than seven years in federal prison for paying to have a former employee's boyfriend murdered.

Prosecutors said Vernon Wayne Brock, 71, was upset with a former employee who refused to continue a sexual relationship with him, and he paid $5,000 to a Kansas man to arrange the murder of the former employee's boyfriend in Oklahoma City.

Brock identified the former employee's boyfriend by sending a photograph to the Kansas man and saying “that's the guy we want dead,” according to investigators.

Recorded conversations between Brock and the Kansas man included statements such as:

“Are they going to thump her around a little bit? And do him? Cause that's what I wanted.”

Authorities said the Kansas man was a partner with Brock in Oklahoma vape shops.

In April 2019, FBI agents and the Woods County sheriff's office arrested Brock after he delivered a $5,000 check to the Kansas man at a cafe in Harper, Kansas.

A federal grand jury indicted Brock for using interstate commerce facilities to commit murder-for-hire.

Brock pleaded guilty to one count. He admitted to using a cellphone and a pickup with the intent to have murder committed in exchange for payment.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge David L. Russell sentenced Brock to serve 87 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Russell also ordered Brock to pay a $30,000 fine.