Terence "Ted" Scanlon, 54, head of a Las Cruces engineering firm and founder of the popular Western Swing band, The Desperados, was arrested Tuesday and charged with trying to hire a man to beat his ex-wife's boyfriend and cut off his penis, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported today in its online edition.

Scanlon was jailed but posted a $100,000 bond and was released from the Dona Ana County Detention Center, the Sun-News reported. He faces a fourth-degree felony charge of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated battery, Las Cruces police said in a news release. If convicted, he could get 18 months in prison.

According to court documents, Scanlon tried to hire employee Robert Gonzales to beat and mutilate Scott Mutchnik, the boyfriend of Scanlon's ex-wife Lori Williams, the paper reported.

Gonzales told police he was fired on Feb. 15 because he told the ex-wife of Scanlon's intentions, according to the Sun-News.

Scanlon and Williams have been divorced twice, in 1998 and again last November, the paper reported.

Scanlon is founder and lead singer of The Desperados, named Western Swing Group of the Year in 2004 by the Academy of Western Artists, and its song "Lyla Lou" was No. 1 on Western Swing charts in 2005, the Sun-News said.

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