Josiah Garcia, a member of the Tennessee Air National Guard, was arrested after applying online for a job as a hitman. A fake website advertising this type of job was created in 2005 and was previously advertised for a cybersecurity company. The company never became popular, however, according to its management affidavit, over the years it received numerous requests for custom assassination services. In the end, the moderator turned the webpage into a parody site with fake reviews, a sign-up form to request services and an application form to become a hitman, reports the Guardian.
Garcia applied for the job on February 16 and sent several additional emails over the next month. In early April, he was contacted by an undercover FBI agent claiming to be the company’s “field coordinator”. Garcia told the agent that he needed the money and that he thought he would be good at killing people because of his military experience and also because he was an excellent marksman.
Last week, Garcia met with an agent at a park where he gave her a fictional “set of tasks.” The agent also paid Garcia $2,500, presumably the first of two negotiated payments. Garcia was arrested the same day. After his arrest, he told officers he had no intention of committing a contract murder. According to him, he had just received a job offer at a Nashville medical center, which he intended to accept. If convicted, Garcia could face up to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Tennessee.
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