PROVIDENCE — Federal prosecutors have reached a plea deal with a man accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl after he picked her up from her Burrillville, R.I., school in 2021 and then, while he was in prison, attempting to hire someone to kill her.
Chandler John Cardente, 30, agreed to plead guilty to enticement of a minor; commission of a felony involving a minor while being required to register as a sex offender; and interstate murder for hire, court filings show.
WPRI first reported the plea agreement last Monday. Court documents indicate Cardente signed the agreement in late October.
A change of plea hearing has so far not been scheduled, Jim Martin, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office confirmed last Tuesday.
Under the terms of the arrangement, Cardente, who faces a maximum sentence of life in prison plus 10 years, would serve 35 years in prison if the agreement is accepted by a federal judge, filings show. Cardente faces a minimum sentence of 20 years.
Kevin Fitzgerald, an attorney representing Cardente, said he had no comment about the deal when reached by the Globe.
Prosecutors alleged that in December 2021, Cardente messaged the girl through Snapchat. Cardente had previously been convicted on one count of first degree child molestation in July 2014, according to court filings.
Cardente and the girl allegedly arranged to meet alongside a wooded area adjacent to Burrillville Middle School, according to Burrillville Police Chief Stephen Lynch. There’s where Cardente picked up the girl in his vehicle on Dec. 10, 2021, court records alleged.
In signing the plea arrangement, Cardente acknowledged he drove the girl to several locations in Warwick, R.I., and had “sexual contact,’’ including sexual intercourse, with her multiple times.
The girl was reported missing by her family, and she was later found on the side of Jefferson Boulevard by Cranston, R.I., police late on that rainy night, Lynch said. Cardente had learned police were looking for the two of them and left the girl there, Lynch said.
Cardente allegedly told police the two were Snapchat “friends’’ earlier that summer, according to the plea agreement, which includes facts of the case agreed on by prosecutors and Cardente. He told the girl he was 17 years old to make it seem as if they were closer in age, all the while knowing the girl he was sexually grooming was only 12 years old, authorities said.
Months later, in February 2022, as he was locked up at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, he spoke over the phone to a person and asked that individual to kill the girl in exchange for $200 cash and $1,500 worth of tattoo equipment, according to the plea agreement.
“I need her to end up dead, she’s a witness, she needs to go,’’ Cardente said during the call, and he offered up the girl’s home address, the agreement states.
When the other person asked if Cardente would “be good with it,’’ he responded, “It ain’t gonna bother me. I’m gonna go to sleep at night, so I’m gonna be fine with it,’’ according to the agreement.
“I just need it done …. I just need it done before I get indicted,’’ Cardente added.
But Cardente was not talking to a killer looking for work: Unbeknownst to him, he was speaking with an undercover law enforcement officer, according to the court filings.
A federal grand jury returned the three-count indictment against Cardente months later, in September 2022.
If the terms of the plea deal are accepted by the court, Cardente would serve more than three decades, with his time already spent behind bars since his arrest three years ago counting toward the 35-year total.
Cardente also faces state charges, including first-degree child molestation and sexual assault, court records show. The case is due back in state Superior Court on Jan. 8.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
