No sentencing date was immediately set for 49-year-old David Houston Sartin of Anahuac (AN'-uh-wak).
Sartin pleaded guilty Monday in Beaumont to attempted kidnapping and brandishing a firearm during a violent crime. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors say Sartin last December sought to hire someone to abduct a person from Kiev, Ukraine. The victim was to have been transported to the U.S. and killed.
Investigators say Sartin was arrested in March in Beaumont while trying to make the final half of a $50,000 payment to an undercover agent. A handgun, a stun gun and handcuffs were confiscated from Sartin.
Further details on the alleged victim weren't released.
