New Jersey man indicted in murder-for-hire plot to kill teen boy, prosecutor say

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CAMDEN - A Haddonfield Township man was indicted Wednesday for a 2019 murder-for-hire plot to kill a 14-year-old boy who he was caught exchanging sexually explicit images with over the internet, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.

Michael Musbach, now 31-years-old, admitted to investigators in 2016 to knowingly exchanging sexually explicit photos over the internet with a 13-year-old boy from New York. The messages were found by the boy's parents who alerted authorities leading to Musbach's arrest, prosecutors said.

Musbach was sentenced in 2018 to a two-year suspended sentence with parole for life.

Prosecutors said months after Musbach discovered his relationship with the young teen was being investigated, he used a fraudulent murder-for-hire website to arrange to have the boy killed. He offered 40 bitcoin - roughly $20,000 - to arrange for the hit and repeatedly pressed the site administrator to carry out the murder, according to charging documents.

Musbach tried to cancel the hit for a refund after the website asked him to pay an additional $5,000, prosecutors said. The site then revealed it was fraudulent and threatened to turn Musbach's information over to authorities.

Investigators in 2019 began were told of Musbach's attempted murder-for-hire by a "cooperating informant," according to the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office. Agents were able to verify Musbach's identity by tracking his bank account activity and bitcoin purchases.

Michael Musbach has been charged with one count of murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, Attorney Honig said. His arraignment date has not been announced.