An American individual who pursued and traded sexually explicit videos and images with a 13-year-old schoolgirl paid 40 Bitcoins to have the child victim murdered before ultimately calling it off, prosecutors claim.
John Michael Musbach of Haddonfield, New Jersey, is accused of using interstate commerce services to commission a murder-for-hire scheme.
The 31-year-old was due to appear in his initial court presence yesterday via video conference. It was being represented by the Federal Public Defender’s Office, which normally does not remark on cases.
A US man is alleged of hiring a hit on a 13-year-old schoolgirl he purportedly shared sexually explicit photos with – using bitcoin currency for the murder.
Musbach began interacting online with the victim in the summer of 2015. He then began using those chats to wish and accept sexually explicit videos and photographs of the girl and send her parallel videos and images of himself, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.
The girl’s parents uncovered the nature of the chats in September 2015 and advised local law enforcement officers in New York State, where they reside.
Officers soon alerted Mr. Musbach that he was under investigation for his alleged online sexual interaction with the victim and was told to stay away. They also sought support from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office because that’s the region where Mr. Musbach lived.
He was arrested on child pornography charges in March 2016 and finally pleaded guilty to child endangerment in October 2017. He received a two-year suspended prison sentence and was put on lifetime parole.
In 2019, a collaborating informant began providing data to Homeland Security agents in St Paul, Minnesota and delivered messages between Mr. Musbach and a website which was supposed to offer contract assassinations or other acts of violence in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency.
In May 2016, the messages exposed Mr. Musbach organized through the website for the child to be killed, prosecutors said. After asking if the girl was too young to target and being told the age wasn’t a problem, prosecutors said Mr. Musbach paid roughly $28,000 in bitcoin for the hit.
When pressed for a supplementary $7,000 to secure the hit, Mr. Musbach then sought to cancel and requested for a refund of his $28,000. The website’s administrator later revealed that the site was a scam and threatened to expose Mr. Musbach’s information to law enforcement.
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