A New Jersey man is facing up to 10 years behind bars after he hired a hit man and paid $20,000 in Bitcoin to kill a 14-year-old boy, prosecutors said.
John Michael Musbach, 31, of Haddonfield, pleaded guilty in Camden federal court Thursday to an indictment charging him with one count of using and causing another to use a facility of interstate and foreign commerce, the Internet, with the intention that a murder be committed, a Press release of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, he said.
Musbach is accused of exchanging sexually explicit photos and videos with the 13-year-old victim who was living in New York in the summer of 2015, prosecutors said.
The victim’s parents found out about the inappropriate exchange and contacted the police.
Musbach was identified in the case and in March 2016 he was arrested on child pornography charges and a search warrant was served at his residence, then in Galloway, New Jersey.
Prosecutors said Musbach had decided to kill the victim so the minor could not testify against him in the pending criminal case.
From May 7 to 20, 2016, he «repeatedly communicated with the administrator of a hit-for-hire website» on the dark web, which offered contract killings in exchange for payment of cryptocurrency.
Using that website, Musbach organized a hit-for-hire.
«Musbach asked if a 14-year-old boy was too young to target, and upon hearing that age was not an issue, he paid approximately 40 bitcoins (approximately $20,000 at the time) for the hit,» the statement said.
He then «repeatedly» messaged the website admin to follow up and ask when the hit would happen.
When the administrator pushed for an additional $5,000 to secure the hit, Musbach tried to cancel the transaction and asked for a refund of his $20,000.
But the website’s administrator later revealed that the site was a scam and threatened to expose Musbach’s information to the police.
Musbach faces a potential maximum penalty of a decade in prison and a fine «of the greater of $250,000, twice Musbach’s gross earnings, or twice his crime victim’s gross losses.»
His sentencing is scheduled for June 13.
Rocco C. Cipparone Jr, an attorney for Musbach, said in a statement: “Mr. Musbach decided to put this matter behind him and accepted responsibility for him without a trial.»
«The more limited sentencing range negotiated in this plea agreement appropriately limits the exposure of Mr. Musbach’s sentence for reasons that will be set forth at sentencing. We now look forward to presenting in context at sentencing, detailed mitigating information, and positive information about the Mr. Musbach,” he said.
