TV Chef Juan-Carlos Cruz Pleads Not Guilty In Homeless Murder-For-Hire Plot

Juan-Carlos Cruz, who hosted The Food Network series Calorie Commando in 2004, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and solicitation of murder in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday.

The one-time TV cooking show host may be swapping gourmet dishes for a lifetime supply of grub from the prison commissary if he’s convicted of trying to hire two homeless men to kill his wife Jennifer, an attorney.

The 48-year-old was arrested in his suburban Los Angeles home on Thursday, one week after a homeless man told the Santa Monica Police Department’s homeless liaison officers that Cruz tried to hire people living on the streets of Downtown LA to “strangle” his high school sweetheart. Cops then launched an investigation.