- A man who paid 40 bitcoin to have a child killed was sentenced to six and half years in prison last week
- John Michael Musbach used a contract killing website to try and eliminate the child before they could testify against him
- Musbach was facing charges relating to sexual contact with the child
A man who paid a hitman in bitcoin to kill a child has been imprisoned for over six years. The highly disturbing case saw John Michael Musbach, a 34-year-old resident of Haddonfield, New Jersey, sentenced to six and a half years in jail for attempting to hire a killer to shoot dead a child due to testify in a case against him. Thankfully Musbach was caught before the act could be carried out after the owner of the website he used to find the killer threatened to tell the police about Musbach’s intentions.
Musbach Wanted to Stop Child Testifying
The torrid tale begins in 2015 when federal prosecutors revealed that Musbach engaged in the exchange of sexually explicit photographs and videos with a 13-year-old resident of New York. The parents of the child involved informed the police once they discovered the crime and Musbach was arrested in March 2016 by officers from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s office and a search warrant was executed at his residence as part of the investigation.
As if the case wasn’t disturbing enough already, a police investigation revealed between May 7-20, 2016, Musbach tried to hire a contract killer to shoot dead the child to prevent them from testifying against him in the upcoming court case. In conversation with the administrator of a dark website promoting such services, Musbach proceeded to pay approximately ₿40, equivalent to around $20,000 at that time, for the contract to be carried out.
However, when asked for an additional $5,000, Musbach attempted to cancel the transaction. The administrator then disclosed that the site was a scam and threatened to expose Musbach’s information to law enforcement.
Musbach Pleaded Guilty
Musbach entered a guilty plea in October 2017 for the charge of endangering the welfare of a child through sexual contact. In February of the following year, he received a two-year suspended sentence with lifelong parole supervision. In 2019, a “cooperating informant” provided law enforcement with the messages exchanged between Musbach and themselves, leading to Musbach being indicted on new charges in April 2021.
As part of the sentencing, Musbach has been ordered to pay a fine of $30,000 and will be subjected to three years of supervised release.
