Fairfax to be sentenced in February

COEUR d’ALENE — Sentencing scheduled Thursday for Sagle resident Larry Fairfax, the hitman turned FBI informant, was continued to early February.

Fairfax pleaded guilty to two firearms charges for making and possessing a pipe bomb that was attached to Cyndi Steele’s vehicle. It never exploded.

Federal prosecutors have said Fairfax was allegedly hired by Steele’s husband, prominent attorney Edgar J. Steele, to kill her and her mother.

Fairfax faces up to 10 years in prison on both counts.

Edgar Steele, 65, has been charged with murder-for-hire and other related charges, but has pleaded not guilty to all of them.

His trial is scheduled for March 7.

Fairfax made a massive pipe bomb using a metal pipe, explosive powder and fuse and attached it to the bottom of Cyndi Steele’s sport utility vehicle, where it was accidentally discovered during an oil change in Coeur d’Alene on June 15.

A bomb squad unit from Spokane was called out and the discovery of the device caused U.S. 95 to be shut down as a safety precaution.

Prosecutors have said they have recordings of Edgar Steele and Fairfax, who had come forward to the FBI and agreed to wear a hidden recording device, discussing the hit on Cyndi Steele and her mother.