U.S. Attorney Henry C Leventis has announced that a Tennessee Air National Guardsman is facing federal charges after meeting with an undercover FBI agent to make a deal to murder an individual for payment. According to a Press Release, Josiah Ernesto Garcia, age 21, of Hermitage, was charged in a criminal complaint with the use of interstate facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.
In mid-February, Garcia reportedly began searching online for contract mercenary jobs and came across the website www.rentahitman.com. The website is a parody site but apparently Garcia thought is was real and submitted an employment inquiry and resume to work as a hit man.
An FBI undercover agent then began communicating with Garcia who subsequently agreed to kill an individual for $5,000. On Wednesday (4/12/2023), Garcia met the undercover agent at a park in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and was provided with a target packet of a fictional individual, which included photographs and other information about the individual to be killed, and a down payment of $2,500. After agreeing to the terms of the murder arrangement, Garcia asked the agent if he needed to provide a photograph of the dead body. Garcia was then arrested by FBI agents, who in a subsequent search of his home, recovered an AR style rifle. If convicted, Garcia faces up to 10 years in prison. This case is being investigated by the FBI.