Florida mom accused of trying to hire hitman to kill her 3-year-old son
Two people have been charged in an alleged murder plot after a mother tried to hire a hitman online to kill her 3-year-old son using a parody website, according to court records from Florida.
Jazmin Paez, 18, was arrested July 18 after she submitted a request on rentahitman.com to kill her son, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
While she was trying to hire a hitman, Paez submitted an address and a picture of her son, the affidavit says. She also provided a safe word for the potential contracted killer, which was “Put me in coach,” the affidavit says.
The website's creator contacted Miami-Dade police last month, and an investigation was launched immediately, the affidavit said.
A police officer posed as the potential hitman during a text exchange and agreed to be paid $3,000 for the job, according to the affidavit.
Paez is charged with first-degree solicitation of murder and unlawful use of a communications device, the affidavit says. Her attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Gamaliel Soza, 18, was arrested Monday and is accused of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and unlawful use of a communications device.
He was in touch with Paez by text and wrote about the potential plot to kill Paez’s toddler son, according to an arrest affidavit.
“The kid is the problem. I hope you see that all I ever wanted, was to free you. I told you about the kid. You won’t do anything,” the affidavit says.
In another text exchange between Paez and Soza, Soza allegedly wrote, “You do it, and I’ll think about coming back.”
It was unclear based on the affidavits what relationship Soza had with Paez. Soza’s lawyer declined to comment Wednesday.
According to NBC South Florida, bond for Soza was set at $15,000. A judge ordered him not to have contact with the toddler or anyone younger than 18 without supervision, the station reported.
The parody website has garnered national headlines before.
In April, an Air National Guardsman was charged with applying to be a hitman. Josiah Ernesto Garcia applied on the website and submitted identification and a résumé, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The website was created in 2005 to advertise a cybersecurity startup. But when it failed, it would get inquiries for hitman services. It was then converted to a parody site with false testimonials from users, according to a criminal complaint in Garcia’s case.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
