Cop alleged target of hit by ex

Jen Lawson

Thursday, June 24, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.

The ex-wife of a Henderson Police sergeant faces charges of trying to hire a hitman last week to kill her former husband, giving specific orders that he be shot while in uniform and then mutilated, police said.

The hitman was actually an undercover detective, and Florela Virginia Martinez, 38, was arrested by Metro Police on June 15 after allegedly paying the detective $1,000 during her second meeting with him.

Martinez is being held in the Clark County Detention Center on charges of soliciting murder and attempted murder of a police officer. Her bail has been set at $500,000.

Police said they began investigating Martinez last month after learning of a plot to get her ex-husband, Sgt. Richard McCorkle, killed. The couple had been married four years and have a child together.

An undercover detective first met with Martinez on June 1 at Cafe Nicolle on West Sahara Avenue near Decatur Boulevard, according to a police report. She agreed to pay him $10,000 in cash within 90 days of the slaying, the report alleges.

The report alleges she gave the detective McCorkle's police identification and handwritten notes detailing her ex-husband's identity, home address, phone numbers, vehicle descriptions, work schedule and the identity of his girlfriend.

The detective allegedly told her he would kill McCorkle but requested a second meeting to verify his identity and receive a down payment.

That meeting took place June 15 at the Grape Street Cafe on West Lake Mead Boulevard near Buffalo Drive, according to the police report. He showed Martinez photographs he said he had taken of McCorkle at work and at home, the report says, but they were actually taken by a Henderson Police detective with McCorkle's cooperation.

Martinez made several requests concerning how she wanted McCorkle killed, police allege. She said she wanted him shot between the eyes while on duty and in uniform, and she wanted him mutilated, according to the police report.

She paid the undercover detective $1,000 in cash as a deposit and said she could sell a ring valued at about $10,000 so that she could pay the balance of the contract, according to the police report.

Shortly after the meeting, Martinez was stopped by Metro patrol vehicles as she drove near Buffalo and Alta drives in her 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche.

Martinez was angry and upset and asked to speak to her attorney, the report says. Police found two diamond rings in her purse.

A preliminary hearing for Martinez is scheduled for July 13.