SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A 31-year-old Haddonfield, New Jersey man admitted in federal court Thursday to attempting to hire a hitman to kill a teenager who he had exchanged sexually explicit pictures with.
The U.S. Attorney of the District of New Jersey said John Musbach paid $20,000 in bitcoin to have a 14-year-old boy murdered back in 2016.
According to court documents, Musbach exchanged sexually explicit photos with the boy and wanted him dead before he could testify against him in a pending trial.
Authorities said Musbach paid bitcoin to what he thought was a dark web murder-for-hire network, but it turned out to be a scam. The site administrator threatened to expose him.
He pleaded guilty to child pornography-related offenses in 2017. Officials only found out about the murder-for-hire attempt in 2019, when an informant started working with law enforcement.
Musbach now faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for June.
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