A South Whidbey man has been charged with solicitation to commit murder after police learned that he allegedly tried to recruit two other inmates to kill his ex-wife for $2,500 and a motorcycle.

The King County Prosecutor’s Office charged Anthony F. Billera, 50, of Clinton with solicitation to commit murder in the first degree earlier this week.

Billera was serving a year-long jail sentence for violating a court protection order. Billera has five convictions for violating no-contact orders and recently tracked down his ex-wife and son, even though they had changed their names and moved away, court documents say.

Bitter about his divorce and incarceration after he tried to contact his son, he allegedly offered other inmates cash and a BMW motorcycle to kill the mother of his two children, according to court documents.

He first approached an inmate and tried to convince him to kill his ex-wife for $10,000. When the man turned him down, he upped the offer to $200,000.

The inmate turned him down and authorities learned of the unsuccessful deal when the inmate confessed to a kitchen worker in the jail.

Billera also approached another inmate. He had come up with an elaborate scheme and he told the inmate to locate his ex-wife, then prove to him that he found her by describing her, according to the probable cause statement.

He then offered the man $2,500 and the motorcycle to kill her, saying he could kill her however he wanted, as long as it wasn’t in front of her children.

Billera also offered the man another $1,500 if he videotaped her death and he said he wanted her to burn.

Police intercepted a letter a few days later that spelled in cut-out letters from a magazine, “IF YOU CAN KILL HER FOR ME I CAN GET YOU 6 AND THE BIKE I WANT HER TO BURN.” Inside the letter was a cut-out of a magazine photo of a wildfire.

Billera was set to be released for his current jail sentence later this year. But he is now being held on the new charge with bail set at $2 million.

If convicted, he faces a minimum of 16 years in prison, based on Washington state’s sentencing guidelines, and likely longer because of his previous criminal history.

Billera is set to be arraigned Tuesday, July 22 in King County Superior Court.