NEW JERSEY — A man was given 6 years and 5 months behind bars, or 78 months, Tuesday for paying $20,000 in bitcoin to have a 14-year-old girl murdered, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger and agent Ricky announced. J. Patel, who was in charge of Homeland Security Investigations. The man sought to silence the victim so that she would not confess to the exchanges of photographs and sexual videos that he had with her, said the Prosecutor’s report.
John Michael Musbach, 34, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before US District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to one count of intentional use of another facility of interstate and foreign commerce, which is the Internet, with the intent to commit murder.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Rodríguez sentenced Musbach to three years of supervised release and fined him $30,000.
“Musbach’s efforts to silence his victim show the lengths child predators go to avoid paying for their heinous activities,” said Newark Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Ricky J. Patel. “In this case, we were able to use our investigative authorities and undercover platforms to find Musbach lurking on the dark web where she sought to further harm her victim by funding a murder-for-hire. We will not stop our efforts to protect children and make these criminals pay. There will be dire consequences for child sexual predators who believe they can get away with their vile actions.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, in the summer of 2015, Musbach exchanged sexually explicit photos and videos with the victim, a 13-year-old girl living in New York, over the Internet.
The victim’s parents learned of the inappropriate touching and contacted local law enforcement. Identifying Musbach, then a resident of Atlantic County, New Jersey, New York law enforcement officers contacted the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office (ACPO). In March 2016, ACPO officers arrested Musbach on child pornography charges and executed a search warrant at his residence, now in Galloway, New Jersey.
Musbach decided to kill the victim so that he could not testify against him in the pending criminal case.
During the period from May 7, 2016 to May 20, 2016, Musbach repeatedly communicated with the administrator of a hit-for-hire website operating on the dark web that purported to offer hit killing or other acts of violence in return. payment in cryptocurrency and arranged a murder for hire.
Musbach asked if a 14-year-old girl was too young to be the target of murder, and hearing that age was not an issue, paid approximately 40 bitcoin (about $20,000 at the time) to have her life taken.
Musbach repeatedly messaged the website’s administrator to follow up on the murder and ask when it would happen. When pressed for an additional $5,000 to secure the crime, Musbach eventually tried to call it off, asking for a refund of the $20,000 from him. The website administrator later revealed that the website was a scam and threatened to release Musbach’s information to law enforcement.
2023-06-28 20:54:41
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