Ex-TV chef pleads not guilty in murder-hire plot

The former Food Network host could face life in prison if convicted. His lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, did not immediately respond to an e-mail from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Cruz was arrested Thursday, a week after a homeless man told the Santa Monica Police Department’s homeless liaison officers about the alleged solicitation and an investigation was launched.

The liaison officers help obtain social services for transients and try to get them off the streets, said Setareh Yavari, the city’s human services coordinator.

"A lot of people in the homeless community know them and trust them because they have a relationship with them,” Yavari said. "It doesn’t surprise me that they would go to (police) with something like this. There’s a sense that they’re taken seriously.”

Amy Reiley, Cruz’s co-author in a cookbook, "The Love Diet,” scheduled for release next month, said she was devastated to learn of his arrest.

"I know him as a giving individual who is passionate about inspiring others to change their health through diet in the way that Juan-Carlos changed his own,” Reiley said in a statement on her website.

Reiley, who has known Cruz for six years, said the chef wrote candidly in the book about maintaining "a loving 30-year relationship with his wife.”

Cruz is married to attorney Jennifer Campbell. Her lawyer, Blair Berk, had no comment.

Cruz was formerly a pastry chef for Los Angeles’ exclusive Hotel Bel-Air where he fashioned desserts for many rich and famous clients. As a result of his job, his weight ballooned to 280 pounds, according to his biography in the "Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook.”

He went on Discovery Health Network’s "Body Challenge” show and shed 100 pounds. He then landed his own show on Food Network, which focused on converting fattening recipes to low-calorie versions that tasted the same. The program ended in 2006.

Food Network said it had no comment because Cruz has not been under contract for a number of years, and the network has no current relationship with him.

Superior Court Judge Keith L. Schwartz set Cruz’s bail at $2 million, and scheduled a preliminary hearing for June 23.