NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. -- A Nassau County man in the middle of a divorce was recently arrested and is facing another kind of legal trouble after police said he tried to frame his estranged wife.

Police arrested John Burkette, saying he set up his estranged wife by having drugs and a gun planted in her car.

According to deputies, Burkette didn't want to wait for a judge in the drawn-out divorce so they said he paid someone to put drugs and a gun in a makeup bag in his wife's car.

Deputies said a known drug informant then called them to tell them Burkette's wife was getting ready to sell the drugs.

However, detectives said after being questioned, the informant told a different story and gave up Burkette's plan.

"They are going through a pretty nasty divorce, and it's tied up and has been tied up for quite some time for resolving this divorce as a civil issue," said Sheriff Tommy Seagraves. "I guess the method behind it was to place some kind of charge on her that would look favorable to him."

Deputies said they were suspicious of the drugs and gun discovered from the beginning because they said finding cocaine, a gun and prescription drugs all in the same place is just too good to be true.

"It's almost like a Christmas gift for an officer on the street to find that kind of package because you're going from armed possession to even possible armed trafficking," Seagraves said.

Local divorce attorney Whitney Lonker told Channel 4 she has seen almost everything in some pretty bitter divorce cases, but she said Burkette's case is bizarre even for her.

"It's a high new low, I'll say. I've had some cases, though, where I've feared for my client's life. When an extreme amount of money is involved, you never know what people are going to do," Lonker said.

Deputies said Burkette now has more legal troubles than his divorce on his hands. He is charged with conspiracy to commit armed burglary and conspiracy to commit an obstruction of justice.

If convicted, Burkette could face as many as 15 years in prison.