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New Jersey man admits to paying $20k in cryptocurrency to murder 14-year-old in order to prevent her testimony in child porn case
Photo: Bill Hinton, Getty Images

New Jersey man admits to paying $20k in cryptocurrency to murder 14-year-old in order to prevent her testimony in child porn case

A New Jersey man admitted to paying $20,000 in cryptocurrency to have a 14-year-old girl murdered in order to prevent her testimony in a criminal case involving child pornography.

U.S. attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced the guilty plea made by John Michael Musbach in a press release Friday.

Musbach was first arrested in March 2016 for child pornography over sexually explicit photographs and videos he exchanged with a 13-year-old teenager living in New York. The teen's parents discovered the inappropriate interactions on the girl's phone and contacted police.

He was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child (the victim) by sexual contact.

In messages sent between May 7, 2016, and May 20, 2016, Musbach tried to hire a hitman on a murder-for-hire website on the dark web. He paid approximately $20,000 worth of cryptocurrency after confirming that a 14-year-old was not too young to be a target.

After asking when the murder would be committed, Musbach was told that he needed to pay another $5,000 in cryptocurrency. He refused and demanded a refund, after which the administrator of the website admitted that the murder-for-hire website was a scam. The scammer then threatened to contact law enforcement and turn in Musbach.

Officials were able to link Musbach's bank account to the funds used to secure the cryptocurrency that was sent to the murder-for-hire scam artist.

Musbach pled guilty to one count of knowingly and intentionally using and causing another to use a facility of interstate and foreign commerce with the intent that a murder be committed. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13.

Here's more about the case against Musbach:

Man indicted for allegedly hiring hitman to kill 14-year-oldwww.youtube.com

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