Bitcoin is now used by ill-wishers to feed their hatred.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that a Mississippi woman has been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for involvement in a botched murder plot for hire.
forty years old Jessica Leanne Sledge In February, she pleaded guilty to hiring an alleged assassin on the dark web and paying him in Bitcoin to murder her now ex-husband in Mississippi.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves sentenced Sledge to 120 months in federal prison, followed by three years of probation and a $1,000 fine.
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Sledge declined to speak in the judgment, acknowledged that the court filings were valid, and allowed her attorney to speak on her behalf.
Her attorney, John M. Collett, said his client was a “first time offender” with “zero chance of reoffending.” He asked the court to consider a sentence of about five years in prison.
Perahatchee woman pleads guilty to murder-for-hire plot: Jessica Leanne Sledge of Perahatchie pleaded guilty to using an interstate facility on a murder-for-hire mission. https://t.co/yBTShaqlhv
— FBI Jackson (@FBIJackson) February 9, 2022
Sledge admitted in court that he contacted hitmen via Whatsapp between September and November of last year in an attempt to get rid of his spouse.
Oops: The alleged ‘killer’ turned out to be an FBI agent
According to prosecutors, the Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent was the “hit man” she paid to carry out the assassination.
She scheduled a meeting with the “murderer” in Brandon, Mississippi, on November 1, 2021, to give her additional payment and details about her intended target.
According to the author, Sledge made bitcoin payments totaling around $10,000 for the killing of “Victim 1” on October 4, October 9, and October 10, 2021.
Between October 22nd and October 26th, Sledge provided FBI agents with certain details about her husband. Based on court documents, this included various images of her spouse and a photo of the car he usually drives, including the license plate number.
Investigation showed that the intended target remained intact. After his arrest, Sledge waived his rights and revealed his involvement in the hired murder plot.
Jessica Leeann Sledge. Image: MCSO
This isn’t the first time Bitcoin has been used to hire a hitman
Sledge’s case is not the first to use cryptocurrency to hire guns.
Federal prosecutors said in June that a Beverly Hills man admitted to using bitcoin to hire hitmen to try and kill his ex-girlfriend.
The federal attorney’s office for the Central District of California said at the time that 25-year-old Scott Barkett had pleaded guilty to a manslaughter-for-hire scheme that paid about $13,000 in bitcoin for the death of a woman.
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Kristy Lynn Felkins Photo: DOJ
Another woman also pleaded guilty to a federal indictment in March of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband using cryptocurrency.
The Justice Department said Kristy Lynn Felkins, 37, faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to using an interstate commerce facility to carry out a murder plot.
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