(WOODRIDGE, Ill.) — An Illinois woman is suspected of moving through the shadows of the dark web to carry out a sinister murder-for-hire plot, even using cryptocurrency to mask her identity.
Tina Jones, 31, of Des Plaines, Illinois, allegedly paid a dark web company more than $10,000 via bitcoin in January to have the wife of the man she was having an affair with killed, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
Police in Woodridge, Illinois, “received a tip that a woman in Woodridge was the subject of an alleged murder-for-hire plot” on April 12, the state’s attorney’s office said.
The tip led to Jones’ arrest, after she turned herself in on Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Jones has been charged with one count of solicitation of murder for hire.
She appeared at a hearing Wednesday, where bond was set at $250,000, and is set to appear in court next on May 15.
ABC News has reached out to her attorney for comment.
“In recent years, law enforcement has seen a dramatic increase in the use of the dark web as it relates to criminal activity,” Woodridge Police Chief Brian Cunningham said in a statement.
The dark web is a collection of internet sites that are hidden from search engines and require special software to access. The sites are usually encrypted, and users can remain more anonymous, including those who may be engaged in criminal activity.
He called this case “a great example of how increased training, shared resources and interagency cooperation helped protect one of our residents.”
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