| For Immediate Release Case #09WF0727 May 3, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
WOMAN, BOYFRIEND, AND FRIEND FACE TRIAL FOR CONSPIRACY TO MURDER WOMAN’S HUSBAND
SANTA ANA – A woman, her boyfriend, and his friend face trial tomorrow for conspiring to murder the woman’s husband. Mary Katheryn Sharpski, 48, Fountain Valley, her lover Michael Calvin Shores II, 40, Fountain Valley, and his friend Antonio Cinco Ortega, 25, Santa Ana, are each charged with one felony count of attempted murder, one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder, one felony count of mayhem, and a sentencing enhancement for great bodily injury. Ortega faces an additional sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of life in state prison. Opening statements are expected to begin tomorrow, Wednesday, May 4, 2011, in Department C-30, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.
At the time of the crime, Frank and Mary Sharpski were married with three children. Sharpski is accused of having an affair with Shores, a tenant in her family’s home for approximately one year. Sharpski is accused of planning to murder her husband in order to live with Shores and her three children as a family.
Sharpski and Shores are accused of meeting and conspiring with Ortega, a good friend of Shores. Sharpski is accused of agreeing to pay Ortega to murder her husband and providing him with information on the victim’s daily route.
In the early morning of March 3, 2009, Ortega is accused of attacking Frank Sharpski in an alley outside of the victim’s home with a machete. Ortega is accused of fracturing the victim’s skull, severing a thumb and fingers, partly severing his nose, causing several machete wounds, and leaving him to die.
When Fountain Valley Police Department officers responded at 5:50 a.m. to the scene, they found Frank Sharpski on the ground near the carports bleeding severely and semi-conscious. He was transported to a hospital, where he narrowly survived after undergoing several surgeries. Ortega is accused of leaving forensic evidence at the crime scene, linking the three to the murder-for-hire plot.
Deputy District Attorney Lynda Fernandez of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.
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