A former Galloway Township man under investigation in a child pornography case was indicted Wednesday for allegedly paying $20,000 in cryptocurrency for a hit on the alleged 14-year-old victim.
John Michael Musbach, 31, who now lives in Haddonfield, Camden County, was indicted on one count of murder-for-hire, U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig said.
Musbach began talking with the then-13-year-old boy in the summer of 2015, when Musbach lived in Atlantic County.
He then used those conversations via Internet Relay Chat to request and receive sexually explicit videos and photographs of the minor, and also sent the boy sexually explicit videos and photos of himself, according to the allegations in the pornography case.
When the boy's parents discovered the communications, they notified law enforcement where they lived in New York.
The investigation then led those officers to reach out to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, which charged Musbach on March 31, 2016.
He pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child by sexual contact on Oct. 11, 2017, and was given a two-year suspended sentence with lifetime parole supervision.
Then, in 2019, a cooperating informant provided law enforcement with messages between Musbach and a murder-for-hire website on the dark net.
"Agentisai” — later identified as Musbach — reached out to the unnamed site May 7, 2016, saying he was in South Jersey, and looking to obtain a handgun and ammunition.
“Alternatively to a gun order, I could place a hit order,” “agentisai” writes the next day.
“However, the target would be 14. Is that an acceptable age or too young?” he writes. “I can budget up to $20k for the order.”
The site responds: “Yes, 14 years old is acceptable. We have gang members to do the hit; however the price is about $18,500.”
Musbach then allegedly paid a total of 40 bitcoin -- about $20,000 -- for the hit.
Musbach repeatedly messaged the website’s administrator following up on the hit and asking when it would happen, Carpenito said.
On May 19, the administrator messaged Musbach saying that there was a problem: “The assigned hitman got arrested for cocaine possession while he was near the place.”
He was then told the new hitman wanted an additional $5,000.
That's when he tried to cancel the hit and get a refund, according to the charges.
Instead, the website's administrator told Musbach the site was a scam and threatened to tell law enforcement.
Agents were able to confirm Musbach’s identity through several means, including linking him to the same screen name he used to communicate with the murder-for-hire website and also by tracing the flow of money from Musbach’s bank account to the purchase of bitcoin used to pay for the hit.
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 the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Musbach or twice the gross losses to the victim of his offense.
Musbach is not listed on the Megan's Law online registry.
