It's the thought that counts

Remember John Sheroke, the Katy man who was arrested last month after trying to hire a hitman to murder his wife? It seems he just can't get the Mrs. out of his mind: Sheroke has been sent back to jail for sending his wife a birthday present, which violated a judge's order. Oops.

Sheroke, 40, has been living with his mom in Dallas since posting $100,000 bail; when the bail was set, State District Judge Jim Wallace told Sheroke not to contact his wife, Shelley Ferrill Sheroke, or their children. But this weekend, Sheroke aegldly sent his wife a copy of Mitch Albom's book For One More Day, the touching story of a man whose life is falling apart who gets the chance to spend a day with the ghost of his wife mother. During a hearing in Houston, Sheroke seemed about to explain the gift to Wallace, but Wallace wouldn't hear it: "I can't imagine any reason you'd rather sit in jail for the duration of the thing," he said before revoking Sheroke's bail.

According to officials, Sheroke asked a former co-worker at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital to kill, or find someone to kill, his wife, a 35-year-old doctor. Sheroke ended up meeting with an undercover cop he took to be a hitman; apparently, he offered the cop $10,000 to whack his wife and told the guy he could keep Shelley Sheroke's Rolex as a bonus. It looks like Sheroke will remain in custody in the Harris County Jail until his trial, a date for which hasn't been set yet.