ST. GEORGE — A Southern Utah man appeared for sentencing in federal court for admittedly using the internet to solicit a contract killing of two individuals in New York, a scheme that was intercepted by FBI agents before any harm came to the intended targets.
The defendant, 43-year-old Christopher Pence of Cedar City, appeared before U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd for sentencing Thursday on one count of the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire plot — a charge the defendant pleaded guilty to in December.
The defendant was sentenced to serve 84 months in federal prison followed by three years post prison supervision upon his released, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of New York on Friday.
As part of his guilty plea, Pence admitted that in July of 2021, he accessed a darknet website from his computer in Cedar City and arranged for the murder of two residents of Hoosick Falls, New York. He also admitted to paying a website administrator approximately $16,000 worth of Bitcoin to have the pair killed.
The information was turned over to the FBI where agents learned that Pence had provided the individuals’ names and addresses, along with photos of the intended victims and details relating to the manner of death.
The defendant also stated wishes he wanted the murder to look like an accident or botched robbery, and asked that care be taken not to harm any of the children who resided with the victims. Agents then discovered there was a possible adoption dispute between Pence and the intended victims. according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
The intended victims were not harmed and Pence was arrested by FBI agents and was booked into jail in Washington County on October 27, 2021, where he remained until he was transferred to federal custody where the case was filed.
Over the next two years, the case made its way through the federal courts, marred by a series of continuances, hundreds of pages of court pleadings, digital evidence, thumb drives, transcripts and hours of recordings, as well as several trial dates that were rescheduled.
Following the hearing Thursday, Pence will begin serving out his sentence once a federal correctional facility is designated.
The FBI was the investigating agency and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet J. O’Hanlon prosecuted the case.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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