A National Guardsman, who was arrested last week after applying to be a hitman on a parody website, officials said.
com may be searching for contract mercenary jobs to support his family, according to the U.S. Attorney s office in the Middle District of Tennessee. The website, created in 2005, was originally to advertise a cyber security startup, but when it failed, it would receive inquiries for hitman services, so its administrator converted it to a parody site with false testimonials from individuals who claimed to have used its services, the criminal complaint states.
In February, the Tennessee man applied via the website to get a job as a hitman, submitting identification documents and a resume, earning him the nickname Reaper, and was employed by the Air National Guard since July 2021.
Garcia continued to follow up on the website for about a month - submitting even more identifying information including his home address and a headshot - and eventually agreed to kill someone for $5,000 while in conversation with an undercover FBI agent.
On Wednesday, Garcia met the undercover agent at a Park in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and was provided with a target packet of a fictional individual, which included photos and other information about the individual to be killed and a down payment of $2,500, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Garcia agreed to the terms of the murder arrangement and asked the agent if he needed to provide a photo of the dead body. In a search of his home, Garcia was arrested by FBI agents who recovered an AR style rifle. Garcia, 31, is charged with using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
The FBI is still investigating the case.