Moonda moved to Conn. prison

She had asked to be placed in West Virginia.

HERMITAGE, Pa. — A Mercer County woman serving life in prison for her wealthy husband’s murder has been moved to a federal prison in Danbury, Conn.

Donna Moonda, 48, formerly of Hermitage, Pa., was moved to the Federal Corrections Institute in Danbury on Thursday, said Felicia Ponce, spokeswoman for federal corrections. She had previously been held at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., where inmates are processed before placement.

Moonda was sentenced earlier this year to life in prison after being convicted in the murder-for-hire plot to kill her physician husband, Dr. Gulam Moonda.

Dr. Moonda was shot in the head while sitting in his car on the side of the Ohio Turnpike on May 13, 2005.

Donna Moonda’s former lover, Damian Bradford, a small-time drug dealer, admitted killing the doctor but said he did it at Donna Moonda’s direction in exchange for half of the doctor’s estate. Bradford was given a 17 1/2-year sentence in exchange for his testimony against Donna Moonda. He is serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Big Sandy in Kentucky.

Moonda had asked to be placed in a federal prison in West Virginia to be near family. She is appealing her conviction.