The fake website RentAHitman.com has caught a would-be hitman-for-hire. An American soldier applies to be an assassin and accepts his first (fake) mission, apparently believing it to be real.
Josiah Garcia, a soldier in the Tennessee Air National Guard, was arrested after federal agents said he answered an online ad through the parody website.
The site was originally created in 2005 to advertise a cybersecurity company that never took off. However, he has received many inquiries over the years about murder-for-hire services, according to the affidavit. Eventually, the site’s administrator turned it into a parody site with fake testimonials, a service application form, and a contract killer application form.
Garcia applied for the job on February 16 and sent several follow-up emails over the next month.
In a follow-up inquiry, he added a “Why I want this job” section, according to the affidavit cited by The Guardian. “I’m looking for a good paying job related to my military experience (shooting and killing the marked target) so I can support my child along the way. What can I say, I love what I do so if I can find a job that’s similar to it (like this one), keep me in mind!”
In early April, an undercover FBI agent claiming to be a “field coordinator” for the company contacted Garcia.
Garcia told the agent he needed money and thought he would be good at killing people because of his military experience and because he was an excellent marksman.
In an interview for the alleged job, he was asked if he was willing to torture people and cut off fingers or cut off ears. Garcia answered in the affirmative. Asked why he wanted to be hired, Garcia told the agent he was looking into civilian law enforcement but wanted to do something more exciting.
On Wednesday, Garcia met the agent at a park, where the agent provided him with a fictitious “target package” and paid him $2,500. Garcia was arrested the same day.
Garcia told agents after his arrest that he did not intend to carry out the contract killing. He stated that he had just received a job offer at a medical center in Nashville, which he intended to take instead.
If convicted, Garcia faces up to 10 years in prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
