Sources: Bashara paid Detroit store owner for jail house hit

It was at Steve's Furniture and Appliances in Detroit near the border of Grosse Pointe Park where Bob Bashara allegedly ordered a jail house hit on Joe Gentz, the man who claims he killed Jane Bashara and his former boss, Bob, hired him to do it.

"The evidence is going to show that he was set up," said David Griem.

Or was he? We've learned behind the store's walls Bob Bashara sought out the owner, Steve, to come up with a plan to kill Gentz in jail, but Steve went to the authorities.  Sources say the two would meet a few times over a two week period this month.  Steve would act as the middle man.  Bashara would eventually pay him $2,000 to get the job done, someone behind bars to take Gentz out, but what Bashara did not know, he was being recorded.

"This particular charge is going to all revolve around the credibility of the individual who went to Bob Bashara and set him up," Griem said.

Steve the owner told us off camera he isn't ready to comment.  He pulled away not ready to talk about his role in this case.

It's vindication for Gentz, according to his attorney, who claims he has feared Bashara all along.

"That was one of the reasons he went to the police because he thought that Bob Bashara was capable of having him killed.  He has the finances.  He has the wherewithal to do it," said Susan Reed, Gentz's attorney.

Bashara is considered a person of interest in his wife's murder, but it's the solicitation of murder charge that has now landed him behind bars.  His bond was set at $15-million after the prosecution argued he's threatened his mother-in-law, his former girlfriend Rachel Gillette and now his own tenants.

"He'd throw their [expletive] out of their apartment complex if they dared to talk to the police and tell them about his involvement with Rachel Gillette, so several witnesses in this case have been contacted by Mr. Bashara and told they are not to cooperate with the police and they felt intimidated by him," assistant prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said at Bashara's arraignment.

"I believe he's an erratic person.  I don't believe he's someone that can control his temperament or emotions, and from what I've seen, he may not be a danger to the general population, but he is a danger to my client," Reed said.

"Bob Bashara is innocent.  Bob Bashara is going to get his day in court, and we're going to do our very best to see that Bob Bashara walks out of those courtroom doors with us," said Griem.

The prosecution claims Bashara actually went to a second person to have Gentz killed.  Reed says she's not aware of that, but that her client is relieved that Bashara is behind bars and at a different jail than him.

Meanwhile, Griem says Bashara won't be able to make that $15-million cash surety bond, so for now he will remain behind bars.