Cook County Jail inmate charged with trying to hire hitman

A south suburban man being held in the Cook County Jail on harassment charges made things a lot for worse for himself by trying to hire a hitman to eliminate a witness, according to authorities.

George Krueger of Blue Island has been held in the jail since Aug. 24, when he was ordered held on a $100,000 bond on charges of telephone harassment, criminal damage to property and criminal trespass, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.

On Thursday, he was charged with solicitation of murder for hire, and was to appear in bond court Friday to face the new charge, a statement from the sheriff’s office said.

On Sept. 10, jail officials learned the 37-year-old Krueger “was trying to find a hitman,” the statement said.

A meeting was arranged at the jail with an undercover officer posing as a hitman. “Krueger offered to pay the undercover officer $3,000 to $4,000 to have the witness killed,” police said.