[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A New Jersey man is facing up to a decade in federal prison after pleading guilty to trying to hire a hitman with Bitcoin to kill a 14-year-old kid.
According to an announcement by the US Attorney’s Office on Thursday, 31-year-old John Michael Musbach (pictured in a mugshot, above) has been brought to justice. The native of Haddonfield, New Jersey pled guilty in federal court to one count of “knowingly and intentionally using and causing another to use a facility of interstate and foreign commerce with the intent that a murder be committed.” In layman’s terms, Musbach admitted to attempting to hire a hitman to kill a minor. WTF…
This case has been going through the courts for a long time. It all started in the summer of 2015, according to federal prosecutors. That year, Musbach allegedly sent sexually explicit photos and videos of himself to an unidentified then-13-year-old victim living in New York. The child’s parents found out about the messages and immediately contacted police.
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Cops began to investigate, and by March 2016, they identified Musbach as the sender. At that point, cops swooped in on his New Jersey home and served a search warrant. Musbach was arrested on child pornography charges.
For a short while, that case moved forward like normal. But several months later, in May 2016, prosecutors say Musbach began “repeatedly” communicating with “the administrator of a murder-for-hire website” on the dark web. That site reportedly offered “contract killings in return for cryptocurrency payment,” according to NBC News.
Prosecutors say Musbach used the site to set up a murder-for-hire plot. His intention was to kill the child, who had just turned 14, in order to prevent the minor from testifying against him in court on the child pornography charges. Per the Department of Justice, Musbach asked the people who ran that site about whether it was OK to kill a minor:
“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.”
Holy s**t…
According to the DOJ, Musbach “repeatedly” messaged the website administrator about when the hit would happen. The admin asked Musbach for another $5,000 in payment to “secure the hit,” per NBC News. At that point, he tried to cancel the hit altogether, and asked for a refund of his $20,000 Bitcoin payment. The supposed hitman then revealed to Musbach that the site was a scam. He threatened to “expose Musbach’s information to law enforcement.” Wow. It turns out you can’t trust people who agree to murder children…
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It’s unclear if that threatened exposure is what led cops to Musbach on the murder-for-hire charge or not. Regardless, they later re-arrested him on that charge. The hitman case has been winding through federal court ever since. Now, with the guilty plea, that part of the saga appears to be over. The current status of the initial child pornography charge is not clear.
Musbach’s attorney Rocco C. Cipparone released a statement to the media about Thursday’s guilty plea:
“Mr. Musbach decided to put this matter behind him and accepted his responsibility without a trial. The more limited sentencing range negotiated in this plea agreement appropriately limits Mr. Musbach’s sentencing exposure for reasons which will be expounded upon at sentencing. We now look forward to putting forth in context at sentencing, detailed mitigating information, and positive information, about Mr. Musbach.”
Uh-huh.
Here is more background on Musbach’s initial indictment on the murder-for-hire charge from early last year (below):
Musbach will officially be sentenced by a federal judge on June 13. Hiring a hitman to kill a kid?!?! And falling for a Bitcoin scam to do it?? We hope the judge throws the book at this guy.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via 6ABC Philadelphia News/YouTube/Salem County Jail]
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