After being arrested on child pornography charges in 2016, a man paid a hitman $20,000 in cryptocurrency to have a 14-year-old murdered, the Department of Justice shared.
The DOJ shared in a statement that John Michael Musbach, 31, of New Jersey, pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with one count of “knowingly and intentionally using and causing another to use a facility of interstate and foreign commerce, that is the internet, with the intent that a murder be committed.”
Musbach could now face up to 10 years behind bars for his attempts to have the teen murdered.
In March 2016, Musbach was arrested after he was accused of exchanging sexually explicit content in the summer of 2015 with the victim, who, at the time, was 13 years old.
The victim’s parents learned that Musbach was sending their child “inappropriate” material and notified local law enforcement, leading to Musbach’s arrest, the DOJ shared.
Prosecutors in the case say that after being reported to the police, Musbach decided he wanted the victim killed so he could not testify against him in his criminal case.
From May 7, 2016, to May 20, 2016, Musbach is said to have contacted the administrator of a murder-for-hire website on the dark web.
“Musbach asked if a 14-year-old was too young to target, and upon hearing that the age was not a problem, paid approximately 40 bitcoin (approximately $20,000 at the time) for the hit,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors then said that after Musbach made the payment, he continued to reach out to the administrator of the website, inquiring about when the murder would occur.
It was then that the website manager asked for another $5,000 to carry out the attack, resulting in Musbach trying to cancel the hit and have his money returned.
At that point, the website’s administrator told Musbach that the operation was a sham, threatening to turn him over to law enforcement.
He will be sentenced on June 13, and for the crimes, Musbach is facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine “of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Musbach or twice the gross losses to the victim of his offense.”
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