A Somers Point clinical social worker who wrote that "creating safe, supportive relationships is often the key to health" admitted in federal court that she paid a hitman $4,000 to disfigure her former boyfriend.
Diane Sylvia was arrested in her Linwood office after an Oct. 31, 2018, meeting with the hitman, who was really an undercover FBI agent.
Sylvia, now 60, had said the former boyfriend had been extorting her by threatening to report something he found out about her to the licensing board.
The investigation was sparked after Sylvia asked a patient who was a former member of an organized criminal gang to help her have a man killed. Instead, that patient notified authorities.
“All he has is, like, his big muscles and his cute face,” she told the undercover agent. “I really just want his face punched in, I swear to God. And his arm broken, that’s what I want.”
The undercover said the disfigurement could be done with battery acid, but Sylvia like didn’t that idea and suggested his face be cut instead.
“Something so he can’t do push-ups, so he can’t work out,” she said.
During the payment meeting in Sylvia's office, the agent told the doctor to get rid of the pre-paid cell phone that she was using to communicate with him.
Sylvia asked if she should throw it off the Ocean City Bridge. She never got the chance, however.
After the meeting, she was arrested by FBI agents.
She pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of solicitation to commit an act of violence. She faces as long as five years in prison and $125,000 fine.
Her sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27.
