Man ‘paid hitman $13,000 in Bitcoin on darkweb to kill woman he met online’

Scott Quinn Berkett pleaded responsible to hiring a hitman to kill a lady he met on-line in 2020 (Image: DOJ)

A California man admitted to paying a hitman he discovered on the darkweb $13,000 in bitcoin to homicide a lady he met on-line, authorities stated.

Scott Quinn Berkett, 25, pleaded responsible to at least one rely of use of interstate amenities to commit murder-for-hire, the US Division of Justice shared on Monday.

Berkett met the lady, whose identification has not been launched, on-line in October of 2020 earlier than inviting her out to fulfill him in Los Angeles, the place he lived, based on the DOJ.

Whereas there, Berkett turned ‘sexually aggressive’ towards the lady, prompting to chop ties with him following the journey. Months later, in April 2021, a relative of the lady who realized Berkett was nonetheless contacting her reached out to his father and was instructed to ‘contemplate this matter closed.’

Later that month, Berkett then contacted a gaggle discovered on the darkweb promoting murder-for-hire companies.

‘I’d prefer it to appear like an accident, however theft gone incorrect may go higher. As long as she is lifeless. I’d additionally like for her telephone to be retrieved and destroyed irreparably within the course of,’ Berkett wrote to the darkweb group.

Whereas regulation enforcement officers consider the group he contacted to be a rip-off, the group contacted a media outlet, which supplied the data to the FBI.

Berkett gave out the lady’s private data on the darkweb, together with her electronic mail handle, social media handles and an outline of her distinctive tattoo.

‘As fee for the sufferer’s homicide, Berkett (despatched) the darknet group Bitcoin funds totaling roughly $13,000,’ the DOJ wrote in a press launch.

An undercover FBI agent then contacted Berkett whereas pretending to be the hitman he employed from the darkweb.

The FBI agent despatched Berkett the pictures of the lady and Berkett ‘confirmed that the images confirmed his meant sufferer and that he made Bitcoin funds to acquire her homicide.’

He then requested for proof of her homicide and despatched a last Bitcoin fee of $1,000.

Berkett confessed to on the lookout for a hitman on the darkweb and paying for murder-for-hire companies in Might 2021. He's set to be sentenced on September 12 and will withstand 10 years in federal jail.

.