Man pleads guilty in North Dakota oil patch murder-for-hire plots

(Reuters) - An oil truck operator pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to orchestrating the killings of two business rivals competing for work in North Dakota's giant Bakken oil patch, court records show.

James Henrikson admitted in a plea agreement to an interstate murder-for-hire plot to kill Kristopher "KC" Clarke in February 2012 in North Dakota and Douglas Carlile in December 2013 in Spokane, Washington, according to court documents.

The guilty pleas, entered in the Eastern District of Washington, mean Henrikson has waived his right to a jury trial.

Henrikson faced murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, among other charges, in alleged plots against several people he viewed as an impediment to his enterprises, as well as conspiracy to distribute heroin, court documents said.

Last week, three men accused of carrying out the contract killings pleaded guilty to a host of federal charges. They will be sentenced in December.

Timothy Suckow, 51, pleaded guilty to charges of murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the December 2013 shooting death of Carlile in Spokane, a plea agreement showed. Prosecutors said he was to have been paid $20,000 for the killing.

Prosecutors say Henrikson wanted Carlile dead because Carlile refused to give up his stake in an oil lease and that Carlile owed him money.

An attorney for Henrikson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Suckow, who in the same federal case also pleaded guilty to killing Kristopher Clarke in North Dakota in 2012, faces up to 30 years in prison under the terms of his plea deal.

Henrikson, who owned a trucking company at the time, believed Clarke was going to start a competing business, prosecutors said.

Co-defendant Robert Delao pleaded guilty to helping to arrange Carlile's murder by acting as a middleman between Henrikson and Suckow, among other charges, according to court documents. Delao could be sentenced to between 14 and 17 years in prison under the terms of his plea deal.

Lazaro Pesina, who was at Carlile's house when he was killed, also pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering under an agreement with prosecutors that could bring him 12 years in prison, court documents show.

Henrikson could face life in prison for each of the two killings, according to the documents.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Edmund Klamann)