A 44-YEAR-OLD man was convicted Thursday in the “murder-for-hire” killing of a Westminster woman in 2004.

A “hit man” accused of killing a Westminster woman for hire in 2004 was convicted of murder and other charges on Thursday.

According to the Orange County District Attorney, Anthony Edward Bridget, 44, was found guilty by a jury in Santa Ana of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment by violence.

He is slated to be sentenced on June 1 in Santa Ana. Sentencing enhancements that apply to Bridget will include special circumstances of murder for financial gain and laying in wait. He faces the possibility of life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

In 2004, Westminster resident Magdi Faiz Girgis, now 65, was involved in a pending domestic violence against him related to assaulting his wife, Ariet Girgis, 55. After a restraining order was issued against him, he moved out of his home.

According to the district attorney’s office, Magdi Girgis, a respiratory therapist, decided to have his wife murdered because of the cost of a divorce and the possible loss of his medical license if convicted of a felony.

Magdi Girgis then solicited at least one person to kill his wife.  Bridget and one other person entered the family house on Plum Street in Westminster on Sept. 29, 2004 where Ariet and her 17-year-old son Ryan were at home. Bridget bound and gagged the son and shoved him in a closet, and Ariet Girgis was killed in her bedroom with a sharp object. The suspects fled the scene.

Ryan was able to free himself and call for help.

Magdi Girgis was convicted in the domestic violence case unrelated to his wife’s death. However, after a cold case investigation, Westminster police detectives arrested Magdi Girgis on Feb. 1, 2013. Bridget was charged in April 2013 and transported from the Soledad State Prison to Orange County Jail.

Magdi Girgis was found guilty by a jury on April 17, 2014 of one felony count of special circumstances murder, one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder, with sentencing enhancements for murder for financial gain and murder to prevent testimony.

He was sentenced on June 27, 2014 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.