In a shocking turn of events, a Utah man has been handed a seven-year prison sentence for attempting to hire a hitman to eliminate his adopted children's biological parents, as per officials' recent revelation. The man in question, Christopher Pence, had already entered a guilty plea for soliciting and funding the murders of two individuals in upstate New York during the year 2021.
Reports from the U.S. Attorney's Office for New York's northern district disclosed that the 43-year-old had orchestrated the killings via a dark web platform that specialized in offering murder-for-hire services. Fortunately, the scheme did not progress to an actual attempt on the lives of the intended victims.
Following Pence's transfer of $16,000 in Bitcoin to an administrator on the dark web for the sinister task, law enforcement authorities managed to track him down as a suspect by tracing the cryptocurrency transaction and his dark web interactions back to his residence in Cedar City, Utah. Court documents reveal that Pence, who resided in a lavish 5,800-square-foot home nestled on 20 acres of land, confessed to engaging someone to carry out the murders when he was apprehended.
During his time as an anonymous user on the "darknet" platform, Pence provided detailed information to the site administrator regarding a planned murder-for-hire scheme. This included the names, addresses, and photographs of the intended victims, along with specific instructions on how the killing should be carried out.
According to the criminal complaint that led to his arrest, Pence suggested that the murder should be staged to look like an accident or a failed robbery. He also made a request to ensure the safety of the three children under the victims' care, urging the hitman not to harm them.
The individuals targeted in Pence's failed assassination plot resided in Hoosick Falls, a village near Albany. To protect their identities, they have remained anonymous throughout the federal investigation and Pence's subsequent trial.
Since his arrest in 2021, Pence has been held in federal custody. Following the recent sentencing, which imposed a seven-year prison term, U.S. District Judge David Hurd recommended an additional three-year period of supervised release for Pence after serving his prison sentence.
