A 63-year-old Texas woman is facing felony charges after police say she hatched a plot to murder her ex-husband by sending him fentanyl-laced candy as a gift for his engagement.

“I’m the lucky fella,” Jeffrey Kauth, 66, exclusively told The Independent. “I’m just thankful she’s behind bars.”

Investigators with the Parker County Sheriff’s Special Crimes Unit allegedly caught Pamela Jean Stanley on tape telling an acquaintance she was seeking to inject the powerful opioid into a box of “high-end chocolates,” then mail it to Kauth in hopes he would eat the tainted sweets.

Stanley, who lives in Coleman, Texas, a town of 3,900 people, allegedly planned to make it appear the chocolates were a present from a travel agency, along with a “honeymoon” incentive offer, according to the sheriff’s office.

Undercover officers lured Stanley in late May to a location several hours away, where she “solicited the purchase of what she believed was fentanyl” in a motel parking lot, and was arrested immediately following the phony buy. She was booked on charges of criminal solicitation with intent to commit murder, criminal attempt to commit murder, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Cops say they also found 9.5 grams of meth on Stanley when she was arrested.

Stanley was released the next day on $450,000 bond. She was indicted on July 10.

Reached by phone Monday morning, Kauth confirmed he was the target of the alleged plot.

The two split roughly five years ago, said Kauth, who is now remarried. He said Stanley first put her plan into action some 18 months ago, when “she tried to hire a hitman to assassinate me.” She has not been charged on those allegations.

“I’m just fortunate that the hitman had a conscience and reached out to me,” according to Kauth, who then contacted police. “I’ve spent pretty much the better part of a year-and-a-half with the lights off in the house, floodlights and cameras in the backyard. It’s been an experience.”

Kauth said Stanley initially wanted him killed so she could share in his son’s inheritance and move back into the home they once lived in together.

“When that didn’t happen, it just became a matter of hatred and revenge,” Kauth said. “It’s an ongoing story, [and] this is what they finally got her for.”

A call to Stanley’s mobile phone on Monday went straight to voicemail.

In 2019, Stanley pleaded guilty to deadly conduct for unlawful discharge of a firearm. She was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and 50 hours of community service.

Stanley is set to be arraigned Tuesday in Parker County District Court.

As Kauth told The Independent, “Hopefully they keep her there.”