Former Microsoft software engineer Christopher Pence was sentenced to seven years in prison for trying to hire a hitman for the parents of his adopted children. For this, he paid $16 thousand to unknown people on the darknet.
The FBI arrested Pence in the fall of 2021 at his home in Cedar Creek, Utah. The would-be victims, a married couple, then lived in Hoosier Falls, New York.
Pence submitted the names, addresses and photos of the alleged victims to unknown people on the darknet. He demanded that the murder look like an accident, for example, as a failed robbery. The attacker also insisted that children should not be harmed. An anonymous source gave a recording of the conversation with Pence to the FBI.
The Pence family adopted five children of a married couple who planned to restore custody of their children, said FBI Special Agent Brian DeCarr.
Pence gave the alleged killer cryptocurrency worth about $16 thousand. However, he probably changed his mind later because he was trying to cancel the deal. The money was not returned to him, but he did not try to warn the victims, the investigators noted.
The FBI identified the cryptocurrency exchange that the customer used to transfer funds, and received from it full information about Pence, including a copy of his driver's license and the IP addresses used for transactions.
Pence confessed to investigators in the crime. His sister launched a GoFundMe page to support the family of the former Microsoft engineer.
Despite working at Microsoft, Pence was not very tech-savvy, the Register notes. Not only did he try to hire a hitman through the darknet, but he also seriously overestimated the anonymity of bitcoin transactions.
The FBI arrested Pence in the fall of 2021 at his home in Cedar Creek, Utah. The would-be victims, a married couple, then lived in Hoosier Falls, New York.
Pence submitted the names, addresses and photos of the alleged victims to unknown people on the darknet. He demanded that the murder look like an accident, for example, as a failed robbery. The attacker also insisted that children should not be harmed. An anonymous source gave a recording of the conversation with Pence to the FBI.
The Pence family adopted five children of a married couple who planned to restore custody of their children, said FBI Special Agent Brian DeCarr.
Pence gave the alleged killer cryptocurrency worth about $16 thousand. However, he probably changed his mind later because he was trying to cancel the deal. The money was not returned to him, but he did not try to warn the victims, the investigators noted.
The FBI identified the cryptocurrency exchange that the customer used to transfer funds, and received from it full information about Pence, including a copy of his driver's license and the IP addresses used for transactions.
Pence confessed to investigators in the crime. His sister launched a GoFundMe page to support the family of the former Microsoft engineer.
Despite working at Microsoft, Pence was not very tech-savvy, the Register notes. Not only did he try to hire a hitman through the darknet, but he also seriously overestimated the anonymity of bitcoin transactions.
