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CEDAR CITY — A southern Utah man in federal custody pleaded guilty in federal court for allegedly using the internet to solicit a contract killing of two individuals in New York. The scheme was intercepted by FBI agents before any harm came to the intended targets.
The defendant, 43-year-old Christopher Pence of Cedar City, pleaded guilty to one count of the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire plot, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of New York.
The federal complaint was filed on Oct. 27, 2021, and Pence was indicted two weeks later after federal investigators allege he went on the internet using a computer in Utah to solicit and pay for the murders using the darknet.
The two New York state residents that were targeted to be murdered were unharmed.
