Dillon Scott Dees, 33, seen in an Oct. 2020 booking photo, faces a federal charge of using interstate commerce in the commission of a murder for hire in what authorities say was an attempt to have a Comal County sheriff's deputy killed.
Courtesy/COURTESY COMAL COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
San Antonio Express-News
Guillermo Contreras, Staff writer
A New Braunfels man is accused of offering $27,000 to hire a hit man to kill a Comal County sheriff’s deputy.
But the person Dillon Scott Dees approached about finding someone to do that job was an informant with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to court documents. The FBI arrested Dees, 33, earlier this month.
Dees asked the informant if he knew a hit man who could kill his former father-in-law, FBI Special Agent Reid Hudson wrote in a federal affidavit. He was referring to Comal County Deputy Kevin Bammert, whom Dees believed was an obstacle in Dees' custody battle with his ex-wife, Hudson wrote.
Dees asked an acquaintance on June 26 at a construction work site in Bexar County — who turned out to be a confidential DEA source — if he had any connections and “would be able to find a third party who would carry out a murder for compensation,” Hudson wrote.
“Dees told the (confidential source) that his ex-wife was attempting to move to Ohio with their daughter and that his former father-in-law was a problem for him. Dees stated his former father-in-law is a local police officer and that (Dees) has tried to involve local law enforcement in child custody issues with his ex-wife but nothing is done, which he believes is due to his former father-in-law being an officer.”
The informant told Dees he would get back to him. Then the informant went to his DEA handler and told him what Dees, whom he knew as Dillon, requested, according to the affidavit.
The DEA confirmed that Dees was involved in a custody battle over his daughter. DEA agent David Camacho met with Bammert and verified that Dees and Bammert’s daughter had divorced and that she was planning to move to Ohio, the affidavit said.
That same night of June 26, the informant contacted Dees and asked, in a recorded phone call, if he was serious about his request. Dees told him he would think about it overnight and get back to him.
The following day, Dees met with the informant, who wore a wire, and “discussed the murder of VICTIM 1” in a conversation in the informant’s vehicle, according to the affidavit.
“Dees stated he would pay the 'hitman' the equivalent of $27,000 in Bitcoin. DEES told (the informant) that using Bitcoin would make the payment untraceable,” the document states.
Dees requested that the killing not take place around his daughter and also asked if it could be done in Ohio, because Dees recently got off probation and felt as if “all eyes (are) on me,” the affidavit said.
He said he didn’t want to meet the assassin, preferring to deal only with the informant, the affidavit said, and when the informant asked again why he wanted Bammert killed, Dees explained that Bammert was the reason his ex-wife wanted to move and that his ex-wife was why he was convicted of a theft charge for which he was on probation.
The Pleasanton Express reported in October 2020 that Dees was charged with theft in Atascosa County, accused by officials with the Atascosa County Livestock Show Association of not delivering belt buckles worth $3,800 he had promised to provide.
Sheriff’s investigators determined that the address Dees allegedly gave to the livestock association was actually a mailbox store, the Pleasanton Express reported.
The informant told Dees that the hit man would require partial payment in advance, and Dees agreed and “offered to pay off CS vehicle as compensation for setting him up with the 'hitman,'” the affidavit said, using the abbreviation CS for “confidential source.”
But Dees explained to the informant that he had a court hearing scheduled July 13 for a judge to decide if Dees' ex-wife would be allowed to move to Ohio with their daughter.
“Dees stated if this court hearing goes in his favor, he does not want the murder to occur but if the hearing does not go in his favor, he wants the murder to take place,” the affidavit said.
The DEA provided the recordings to the FBI, which obtained an arrest warrant from a federal judge and picked up Dees on July 6, records show.
After a hearing last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad ordered Dees held without bond pending trial and cited Dees' pending theft case as one reason for keeping him jailed.
The federal charge — use of interstate commerce in the commission of murder for hire — might change after prosecutors present his case to a grand jury in the coming days, records show.
If the charge stays the same, Dees faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.