James Pepe, Florida teacher, allegedly tried to hire hitman to kill Robert Meredith, former co-worker
Two Florida teachers had their friendship deteriorate and transform into a feud and allegedly, possibly a hit on one of two men.
James Pepe
James J. Pepe of Brandon and Robert Meredith of Plant City, were once friendly co-workers at Strawberry Crest High School in Dover, Florida.
Unfortunately the pair were split up by their disagreements and Pepe transferred away to another school, Bloomingdale High School.
The animosity didn’t stop.
“This relationship got to a point where Pepe felt that any negative thing that happened to him at work, he thought Meredith was behind it,” said Officer Tray Towles, a spokesman for the Plant City Police Department.
The breaking point came, Towles said, when Pepe suspected Meredith was spreading rumors about him.
“Meredith was allegedly telling everybody (Pepe) was a child molester,” Towles said.
A squabble that started in a high school social studies department escalated to the point that one of the teachers looked for a hit man to kill the other, police said Thursday.
Pepe, age 55, was arrested outside of Bloomingdale High on Thursday, facing charges of of solicitation of first-degree murder, and was being held without bail at the Hillsborough County jail.
“They arrested him behind the school without incident. It all went pretty smoothly,” school district spokesman Stephen Hegarty said.
A man from Georgia, whose name was not disclosed, said his friend since childhood tried to hire him to kill Meredith.
Police brought in the FBI.
