Food Network's Calorie Commando Sentenced to Prison for Wife-Killing Plot

Former pastry chef headed to jail after he solicited homeless people to murder his wife

By Marianne Garvey Dec 13, 2010 7:01 PMTags
Juan Carlos CruzAP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Former Food Network chef Juan-Carlos Cruz is cooked.

The celebrated pastry chef and ex-host of Calorie Commando will now be counting the fat in his commissary snacks after getting sentenced today to nine years in a California state prison for soliciting two homeless men to kill his wife.

The 48-year-old had pleaded no contest to the charges in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 26.

He was arrested in May for allegedly approaching two homeless people with a murder-for-hire scheme targeting wife Jennifer Campbell. He offered to pay them $1,000, but instead of doing the hit, the men went to the police. 

According to reports, Cruz's wife was suicidal over not being able to have a baby. Investigators believe Cruz was attempting to put his wife—who was his high-school sweetheart—out of her misery by slitting her throat.

As part of his plea deal, a charge of attempted murder charge was dropped by Judge H. Chester Horn Jr. Had he been convicted on that count, Cruz could have been looking at life in prison.