Darkweb Hitman

A New Jersey man from Camden County who was arrested in 2016 on child pornography charges has been indicted in 2021 after he tried to hire a hitman from the dark web to kill a 14 year old child.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released a statement on Wednesday. They say that 31 year old John Michael Musbach of Haddonfield has been indicted on one count of murder-for-hire.

They say that in 2016, Musbach attempted to solicit the services of dark web website that offered a murder-for-hire service to kill the 14-year-old.

According to the DOJ, “He asked if a 14-year-old was too young to target, and upon hearing that the age was not a problem, paid approximately 40 bitcoin (approximate $20,000) for the hit,”. The service asked for additional $5,000 and Musbach attempted to cancel the hit on the child and asked for a refund. The service administrator revealed to him that the service was a scam and the administrator threatened to reveal his information to law enforcement.

Law Enforcement caught wind of the abandoned murder for hire plot in 2019. An informant provided law enforcement with the messages between the New jersey man and the murder for hire service’s website.

According to the DOJ, “Agents were able to confirm Musbach’s identity through several means, including linking him to the same screen name he used to communicate with the murder-for-hire website and also by tracing the flow of monies from Musbach’s bank account to the purchase of bitcoin used to pay for the hit,”.

The New jersey man, is facing a maximum of ten years in prison and he is already being investigated by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office for child pornography offenses prior to Wednesday’s arrest, he is also facing a fine greater than $250,000.

New jersey hitman

The New jersey man pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child by sexual contact on October 2017 and he received a two-year suspended sentence, he also received parole supervision for life. He was arrested by authorities for sending sexually explicit photos and videos to a 13 year old in 2015 and requesting the child to do the same.

At the moment it is unclear if the target of his abandoned hit and the victim from 2015 are the same person.