Using bitcoin to try to purchase and assassinate her husband on a dark web site, a 40-year-old woman who is currently residing in southern Mississippi was caught by undercover FBI agents and received a 10-year prison sentence, according to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice yesterday.
Nice The Department of Justice revealed yesterday (1) that 40-year-old Jessica Leeann Sledge, who now resides in southern Mississippi, has been given a sentence of up to 10 years in prison for allegedly attempting to hire a hitman to kill her husband via a dark web site using bitcoin. A $1,000 fine and three years of probation are also part of the sentence.
Seized by FBI personnel
A murder was planned between September and November 1, 2021, according to Sledge’s previous guilty plea and admission, but she was unaware that the “killer” she spoke to was actually an undercover FBI agent. The prosecution noted that Sledge had previously pleaded guilty and admitted to using the Internet, a mobile phone, and the Whatsapp app.
According to Decrypt, who cited DOJ papers, Sledge submitted three total payments on October 4, October 9, and October 10 of last year while attempting to meet an assassin online between September 2021 and November 2021. $10,000 worth of bitcoin at a time when it was valued about $54,771.
In Mississippi, where she met the “killer” on November 1st, she was apprehended, confessed to her part in the murder for hire, and eventually her husband was safe.
Dark Web Illegal Transactions Prefer Bitcoin
Regulators continue to have serious concerns about the use of Bitcoin in crime. In May of last year, Tennessee resident Nelson Replogle allegedly used bitcoins in his Coinbase wallet to locate a hitman on a website that specialized in murder-for-hire in order to pay for the killing of his wife. At that instance, Coinbase sent transaction details to the FBI, who later arrested the suspect and stopped the murder attempt.
At the end of September 2020, the FBI also indicted a Nevadan lady who attempted to purchase and murder her ex-husband in 2016 using $5,000 worth of bitcoin on the dark web. She came into a fraudulent website, not just The scheme was a total failure, and 12 bitcoins were lost.
