Soldier arrested after applying for hitman job at parody website
John Wick dreams gone wrong? An American soldier was arrested after applying for a killer-for-hire position in a parody website.
The Guardian reported that Josiah Garcia, a Tennessee air national guardsman, submitted an application to RentAHitman.com last February.
The website was created in 2005, originally to advertise a cybersecurity company. It, however, attracted several inquiries about killer-for-hire services over the years.
Its administrator decided to turn Rent a Hitman into a parody website—complete with fake testimonials, an intake form to request services, and an application form to become a hired killer, The Guardian reported.
Garcia made several follow-up emails in March, and in one of them, he put a "Why I want this job" section, saying he's looking for a job "that pays well" related to his military experience so that he can support his kid.
He indicated that he can do "shooting and killing the marked target."
"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!” Garcia said.
At the start of April, an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent posed as a "field coordinator" of Rent a Hitman and reached out to Garcia.
Garcia spoke with the agent, who asked if he was willing to torture people and cut off fingers or ears. Garcia responded positively, The Guardian reported.
He also told the agent he was looking into civilian law enforcement but wanted to do "something more exciting."
Garcia met with the agent in a park for a "target package," and was paid $2,500 (P140,000) as the supposed first of two installments for the fake hitman job. He was subsequently arrested.
Upon his arrest, he said he had not intended to go through with being a paid assassin, as he supposedly got a job offer from a medical center in Nashville.
Garcia could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to the attorney's office for the middle district of Tennessee.
