A Nevada Woman sentenced to five years in prison for trying to hire a hitman bitcoin (btc) for killing her ex-husband.
Christy Lynn Felkins38 year old resident To attack, NevadaHe pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire charges in March as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
According to court filings, Felkins took a plea deal to avoid trial.
After sentencing, a US District Court judge in California ruled that once Felkins completed his prison sentence, he would be released on three years of supervision.
In 2016, Felkins transferred 12 bitcoins, worth $5,000 at the time, to the operator of a website on the Tor network. besa mafia, who claimed to provide murder-for-hire services. Today, the bitcoin he sent would be worth about $360,000.
Court documents showed that for four months in 2016, Felkins engaged in frequent conversations with the administrator of the Bessa Mafia website.
She provided detailed information about her ex-husband’s whereabouts, including his home address, vehicle and work schedule.
According to a criminal complaint filed in 2020, she wanted to eliminate him while he was in Chico, California.
The authorities later revealed that the Besa Mafia website was merely a scam designed to defraud unsuspecting customers.
In a statement admitting his guilt, Felkins admitted to offering an additional $4,000 in March 2016 to expedite the time frame for the murder conspiracy.
She also said that she “didn’t care” if her ex-husband’s new girlfriend was harmed as a result of the murder.
Felkins reportedly requested the alleged hitman to make the murder appear to be an accident.
According to her statement, she asked the alleged hitman whether it was possible to go wrong with the murder.
Felkins had told the Bessa Mafia administrator that she would profit financially from her ex-husband’s death.
“I’m prepared to get his retirement, our house and possibly a big life insurance payout,” he said.
Felkins, who remains out of custody, was ordered to surrender in September to serve his prison sentence.
The incident is similar to a similar sting operation that led to the arrest and jailing of a Mississippi woman last year.
In that case, the woman paid $10,000 in bitcoin to a man she believed to be a hitman, but turned out to be an undercover federal law enforcement agent.
At the time the woman was sentenced to the statutory maximum of 120 months in prison for “using interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire,” according to a DOJ filing.