Three head to trial on attempted murder charges

A Fountain Valley man and woman were scheduled to go to trial Wednesday on charges of attempting to murder the woman’s husband.

Mary Katheryn Sharpski, 48, and Michael Calvin Shores II, 40, and Antonio Cinco Ortega, 25, of Santa Ana, are each charged with one felony count of attempted murder, one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder, one felony count of mayhem and a sentencing enhancement for great bodily injury, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Each of the defendants faces a maximum of life in state prison if convicted. Ortega faces an additional sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.

Opening statements were expected to begin some time Wednesday in Department C-30 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

According to the district attorney, Sharpski, who was married with three children, had an affair with Shores, a tenant in her family’s home. Sharpski is accused of planning to murder her husband so she could live with Shores and her three children.

Sharpski and Shores are accused of meeting with Ortega, a friend of Shores, and arranging for him to murder Sharpski’s husband. Sharpski allegedly paid Ortega for his services, according to the district attorney.

On the morning of March 3, 2009, Ortega is accused of attacking Frank Sharpski in an alley outside his home with a machete, fracturing his skull and severing a thumb, fingers and part of his nose.

Frank Sharpski survived the attack, and forensic evidence led Fountain Valley police to the three suspects, according to the district attorney.

— Michael Miller