A HITMAN in a 2004 murder-for-hire in Westminster was sentenced Friday to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

A convicted hitman in a 2004 murder for hire in Westminster was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s office, Anthony Edward Bridget, 44, received his sentence after his April 2018 conviction on one count each of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment by violence.

Added to that was a sentencing enhancement for special circumstances: murder for financial gain and lying in wait.

Co-conspirator Magdi Faiz Girgis, 65, of Westminster, was found guilty in April 2014 of similar charges and sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

ANTHONY EDWARD BRIDGET (WPD photo).

He was the husband of Ariet Girgis, the murder victim.

In 2004, Magdi Girgis was involved in a pending domestic violence case against him related to assaulting his wife, Ariet, 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.