N.J. man sentenced for paying $20,000 in bitcoin to have 14-year-old child porn witness killed
06/28/2023 2:33 pm PDT
CAMDEN COUNTY, N.J. (TCD) -- A judge recently sentenced a 34-year-old man to over six years in prison for paying a hit man to kill a 14-year-old boy to prevent him from testifying against him in a child pornography case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced Tuesday, June 27, that District Judge Joseph Rodriguez sentenced John Musbach of Atlantic City to 78 months in prison after he pleaded guilty in February to 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 will also have to pay a $30,000 fine and serve three years of supervised release.
During the summer of 2015, Musbach and the victim, who was 13 years old at the time and living in New York, reportedly exchanged sexual photographs and videos online. According to the Attorney’s Office, the victim’s parents learned about the explicit material and alerted law enforcement.
New York law enforcement officers contacted the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, and in March 2016, officers arrested Musbach on charges of child pornography.
From May 7, 2016, through May 20, 2016, the Attorney’s Office said Musbach communicated with a murder-for-hire website administrator on the dark web. The website reportedly offered "contract killings or other acts of violence in return for payment in cryptocurrency."
The Attorney’s Office said Musbach asked if a "14-year-old was too young to target," and the murder-for-hire website administrator said the boy’s age was not an issue.
Musbach reportedly paid 40 bitcoin, which totaled approximately $20,000 at the time, for the hit.
According to the Attorney’s Office, Musbach followed up with the website administrator repeatedly, and Musbach was "pressed" to pay another $5,000 to carry out the killing.
Musbach eventually backed out of the deal and asked for his money back, but the administrator reportedly admitted the website was a scam and "threatened to reveal Musbach’s information to law enforcement."
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