A Caroline County business owner was convicted late Tuesday night of solicitation to commit malicious wounding.
Donald Lee Ridenour, 60, who owns BDL Industries, a welding company in Ruther Glen, was found guilty by Judge Horace Rivercomb, who heard the case without a jury.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled Sept. 8 in Caroline County Circuit Court.
Caroline Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Spencer said Ridenour hired an acquaintance to badly beat his ex-wife's son last year, but a tip to police stopped the plan.
Spencer said Ridenour had planned to pay the man $1,000 for committing the malicious wounding.
This isn't the first time Ridenour got mixed up in such a scheme, Spencer said.
In 1991, he was convicted in Maryland of solicitation to commit murder for hiring a man to kill his ex-wife.
The victim in the Maryland crime was a different woman than the mother of the victim in the Caroline crime, Spencer said.
He said after authorities caught on to Ridenour's scheme last December, Ridenour confessed to hiring a man to hurt his ex-stepson because he was concerned about losing his business to his ex-wife's family in their divorce.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com