CAMDEN – Police say a man tried to hire a fake hitman with internet money to kill the victim of his own child pornography crime.
John Michael Musbach, 31, of Haddonfield, first came to the attention of police when he met a 13-year-old online in the summer of 2015. Using an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) website, he gained the child’s trust and eventually turned the conversations to a sexual nature.
He convinced the victim to send sexually explicit content of the child, and sent some of himself.
That September, the child’s parents found out and called the police in New York state, where they lived. They tracked his identity down and in March of 2016, Musbach was arrested on child pornography charges. He was living in Galloway at the time and police searched his property.
He pleaded guilty in 2017 and was sentenced in 2019 by a New Jersey Superior Court Judge to a two-year suspended sentence with parole supervision for life.
However, in May of 2016, Musbach allegedly arranged for a murder-for-hire from a website on the dark net. This website offered contract killings or other acts of violence in return for payment in cryptocurrency.
“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 (approximately $20,000) for the hit,” police said.
Musbach reportedly messaged the website’s administrator following up on the murder and asking when it would happen. The administrator pressed him for more money – an additional $5,000 to secure the hit. With this, Musbach sought to cancel the hit and get a refund.
The administrator then revealed that the website was a scam and threatened to reveal his information to law enforcement.
In 2019, a cooperating informant from the website began providing information to agents from Homeland Security Investigations in St. Paul, Minnesota, and provided messages between Musbach and the website.
Agents determined Musbach’s identity through his screen name and the bank account information he used to make the payment.
The charge of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of at least $250,000.
U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason Molina, and in St. Paul, Minnesota, under the direction of Tracy Cormier, with the investigation. He also thanked the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office for its assistance.
Charges are merely accusations until proven in a court of law.
