Jazmin Paez, 18, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with first-degree soliciting murder for a scheme that police in Miami called ‘disturbing.’
According to Miami-Dade Police, the incident began when Paez contacted the owner of the website rentahitman.com, asking for someone to ‘take care of’ her three-year-old son.
However, rentahitman.com is fake. It is run as a parody website owned by a California man named Bob Innes.
Innes, who goes by the name Guido Fanneli on the site, says that he consistently receives emails from people inquiring about services – some of which he refers to law enforcement.
Earlier this year, a national guardsman was arrested by the FBI in Tennessee after repeatedly emailing the site asking for a job as a hitman.
‘We’re glad that Mr Innes did the right thing – based on his experience he knew that this was real,’ Miami-Dade Public Information Officer Alvaro Zabaleta.
According to police, Paez filled out the form with all of her correct information, including address and birth date, but used the pseudonym ‘Daphne.’
In the online form, Paez allegedly stated that she wanted her son taken care of ‘once and for all.’
She wanted to hire somebody to take him ‘far far away,’ and wanted it taken care of ‘ASAP.’
She also reportedly sent in photos of the child and a location of where the child was staying.
Police in Miami said they received Innes’s tip around 6.18pm. The case was then handed over to the department’s Vice Squad. By 7.00pm, detectives were investigating Paez’s home.
According to Officer Zabaleta, one of the detectives posed as a hitman working for the website.
‘She practically confessed what her intentions were and what she wanted to do,’ Zabaleta said.
Paez offered the undercover officer $3,000 for the job, local station NBC6 reported.
Paez was arrested the same night just before midnight.
On Wednesday, Paez was charged with first-degree soliciting of murder. She was released after paying her $15,000 bond and ordered to have no contact with her child.
Police confirmed Florida’s Department of Children and Family Services was investigating the incident as well.
