A man who hired a scammer hitman in an attempt to retaliate against a teenager he had previously exchanged sexually explicit media files with has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
John Michael Musbach, 34, of Haddonfield, pleaded guilty to knowingly and intentionally using and causing another to use a facility of interstate and foreign commerce with the intent that a murder be committed, on February 2.
Musbach exchanged sexually explicit photos and videos with a victim from New York, who was 13 years old at the time, during the summer of 2015, officials said. The teen’s parents then found out about the exchange and contacted local police, authorities said.
Detectives from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office executed a search warrant on his home in Galloway and he was arrested on child pornography charges, prosecutors said.
He later pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child by sexual contact and was sentenced to a two-year suspended term with parole supervision for life in February 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Musbach then started communicating with the administrator of a murder-for-hire site on the dark web in May 2016, when his criminal case was pending, officials said. He paid the administrator 40 bitcoin, approximately $20,000 at the time, for the killing of the teen, who was then 14, authorities said.
The operator of the site then asked for an additional $5,000 and Musbach declined and requested a refund, officials said. The person then revealed that the website was a scam and threatened to report Musbach to law enforcement, officials said.
As part of his sentence, Musbach will serve three years of supervised release and has also been ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
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