After applying for a job at Rentahitman.com and receiving a down payment for a contract to kill an undercover FBI agent, a 21-year-old member of the Air National Guard in the US state of Tennessee now faces up to 10 years in prison. prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville said Thursday that 21-year-old Josiah Ernesto Garcia has been charged with “using interstate facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.”
Garcia allegedly used the website in February to apply for a mercenary labor contract, according to federal authorities. He boasted of being a skilled marksman with a variety of weapons and said he needed more money for his family. He went by the nickname “Reaper”.
The criminal complaint describes Garcia as stating in a follow-up email, “I’m looking for a high-paying job, related to my military experience (shooting and killing the marked target) so I can support my child along the way.” “Qu can I say, I love doing what I do, so if I can find a job that looks like it, (like this), put me as a coach!”
Turns out Rentahitman.com was a trap. It was developed in 2005 for a cybersecurity firm but was later turned into “a parody site” with false testimonials and a “services” app, authorities say. After receiving a request from the FBI, its owner, Bob Innes, replied to Garcia’s email and assured him that someone would contact him.
Garcia eventually got a call from an FBI secret agent offering him $5,000, half of which would be paid up front, to murder someone. On Wednesday, he met the contact at a park in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and received the deposit and an imaginary “target package.” Garcia was detained by the FBI when asked if he should provide evidence of the act.
A second guard airman, 21, was taken into custody on Friday. Massachusetts ANG member Jack Teixeiera was accused of posting secret Pentagon information about the Ukraine crisis on an Internet chat room.