A 24-year-old Baltimore man pleaded guilty Monday to his role in two murder-for-hire contracts, law enforcement authorities announced.

Tavon Slowe agreed to plead guilty to two charges related to contract-killing schemes in 2012 and 2013, according to a statement released by the U.S. attorney's office. If the court accepts his plea agreement, he will face 23 to 27 years in prison.

The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, the FBI's Baltimore field office, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis and Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby.

The charges arise from an incident in March 2012 in which an individual was hired to kill Gregory Parker, authorities said. This person, whom the plea refers to as “CW1,” or cooperating witness, in turn offered Slowe $5,000 to carry out the killing.

Parker was shot several times in the 2300 block of E. Chase St. on March 16, 2012. Evidence, including witness statements and surveillance video footage, linked Slowe to the killing, according to the plea agreement.

One year later, the FBI staged a murder-for-hire scheme with the cooperating witness, then incarcerated on unspecified charges, in order to catch Slowe. The witness contacted Slowe in March 2013, asking Slowe to kill someone who had supposedly framed the witness. Slowe agreed, the statement read, and met with an undercover officer in April to discuss receiving a handgun and his fee for the killing.

In a subsequent phone call, the plea agreement said, Slowe told the witness that he would kill anyone accompanying the intended target on the day of the shooting as well, if necessary.

“You know I ain't worried about that,” Slowe told the witness, according to the plea. “If it gotta be two birds with one stone, it be two birds and one stone.”

Authorities planned to arrest Slowe later that month at a meeting between him and the undercover officer, the plea agreement said. But Slowe did not appear at the meeting.

“The contract murders are harder to solve because the shooters usually don't have a personal beef with the victim,” Rosenstein said. According to the plea, Baltimore police arrested Slowe in August 2013 on drug and firearms charges.

jcoburn@baltsun.com