By Steve Neavling
A Tennessee Air National Guard service member has been charged after applying to be a hitman on a parody website, the Justice Department announced.
Josiah Ernesto Garcia, 21, is accused of submitting an employment inquiry to the “rent-a-hitman” site, boasting about his “military experience and rifle expertise” that earned him the nickname “Reaper.”
Garcia allegedly wrote, “Why I want this Job* Im looking for a job, that pays well, related to my military experience (Shooting and Killing the marked target) so I can support my kid on the way. What can I say, I enjoy doing what I do, so if I can find a job that is similar to it, (such as this one) put me in coach!”
The website was created in 2005 by a cyber security company as a way to promote the business.
When Garcia didn’t hear back from the site, he sent several follow-up emails, according to the complaint.
At the direction of the FBI, the website owner responded with an email, saying, “Josiah, a Field Coordinator will be in touch in the near future. You will receive a message when they are ready. Timing is based on client needs,” according to the complaint.
An undercover FBI agent then contacted Garcia for a phone interview on April 5, when the suspected allegedly asked, “How soon can I start?”
When the agent asked Garcia if he was comfortable taking fingers or ears as trophies or torturing a target Garcia responded, “If it’s possible and in my means to do so, I’m more than capable,” according to the complaint.
Garcia met with the undercover agent on Wednesday, when he was “was presented with a ‘target package’ consisting of photographs and a description of a fictional target’s name, weight, age, height, address, and employment information,” the complaint said.
The bogus target was described as a woman’s husband who had abused her. He was offered $5,000 for the job.
“After agreeing to the terms of the murder arrangement, Garcia asked the agent if he needed to provide a photograph of the dead body,” the DOJ said. “Garcia was then arrested by FBI agents, who in a subsequent search of his home, recovered an AR style rifle.”
Garcia faces up to 10 years in prison on a charge of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire.
