A 31-year-old man from New Jersey was able to obtain sexually-explicit pictures of a 13-year-old boy and he allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill him.
Pedophile on the internet
In March 2016, the suspect John Musbach, confessed to sending sexually-graphic photos and videos to the victim. He also requested the victim to send him explicit images despite knowing that he was underage. The suspect received explicit images from the victim whom he manipulated into sending.
Musbach met the 13-year-old victim online in 2015. In September 2015, the parents of the victim learned of the inappropriate communication and contacted the police in New York, where the victim and his family lives, as reported by Washington Post.
In October 2017, Musbach pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child by sexual contact and received a two-year suspended sentence with lifelong parole supervision.
A year-and-a-half before his conviction, the suspect allegedly accessed the Dark Web and paid $20,000 in bitcoin to have the boy killed.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Musbach tried to hire a hitman on a website in the Dark Web called Besa Mafia. While arranging the murder, the suspect allegedly asked whether the child was too young for the hitman to kill.
Federal prosecutors in New Jersey said in a statement that Musbach repeatedly messaged the administrator of the website to follow up on the hit and asking when it would happen.
When he was pressed for an additional $5,000 to secure the hit, Musbach eventually sought to cancel and asked to have his money back.
The administrator of the website revealed that the website was a scam and threatened to reveal Musbach's information to law enforcement.
In 2019, an informant contacted Homeland Security Investigations agents in Minnesota about Musbach. The informant reportedly provided messages of Musbach's correspondence with the administrator of the website.
According to the prosecutors, the agents were able to identify Musbach by tracing the bitcoins that he used in the illicit transaction. It led them to his bank account. The suspect also used the same username on the Dark Web site on other platforms.
Musbach is now charged with interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. He appeared before a federal judge on August 13.
Similar incident
In 2015, a 24-year-old man was arrested after a criminal complaint was filed with the U.S District Court. The suspect, Evan Ballowe, confessed to sending sexual pictures and engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 13-year-old boy on the Kik messaging app.
According to the complaint, the victim gave a school resource officer a written statement detailing conversations where he was propositioned for sexual activity. The minor also gave the officer the computer tablet that he used for the conversations.
The report also states that the victim was contacted by a person named "Southern Guy" on Kik. The report shows that "Southern Guy" told the boy that he was 15 years old, as reported by 5NewsOnline.
"Southern Guy" told the boy that sex is fun and asked the boy if he could sneak out of his house when his parents were asleep to meet him to have sex.
The complaint also says that "Southern Guy" sent the 13-year-old a picture of an erect penis and a picture of a nude white man laying face down.
"Southern Guy" asked the 13-year-old boy to send him nude pictures, but the boy told him his camera was not working. The boy said he was instructed by "Southern Guy" to delete their messages so that the boy's parents would not see them.
A federal summons was sent to Kik for information on the profile of the suspect and the response from Kik showed an IP address that was tracked to an apartment being leased by Evan Ballowe.
The police were notified that "Southern Guy" had attempted to contact the 13-year-old again on Kik. A federal search warrant was executed on November 11, 2015 at Ballowe's apartment. He admitted to being "Southern Guy" and also engaging in sexually explicit conversations with the boy.
Police found sexual images of himself on his phone. Ballowe is facing charges of Coercion and Enticement of a Minor and Attempting to Obtain Child Pornography.