A 17-year-old girl in Iowa's Storm Lake has been arrested and charged after she allegedly attempted to hire an online "hitman" to kill a 7-year-old child, CBS News reported.
According to the police, the girl used the website RentAHitman.com without realizing the site was a parody. Operators of the parody website reached out to police in Storm Lake, reporting that "a person had visited the site on two occasions and had attempted to solicit the murder of a 7-year-old child," Chief Chris Cole said in a statement to NBC News.
She also furnished all the details, including name, address, identifying details, and where the child could be found. When the police received the information, an undercover police officer posed as a hitman and made contact with her on June 2.
"The undercover officer confirmed with the suspect, that the suspect wanted the target killed. The suspect confirmed the name of the target, home address, and the time the target would be at the house,'' Mr. Cole said.
Neither the child nor their family members were harmed and they were not aware of any potential threat.
The girl is now facing a felony charge of solicitation to commit murder. Her name has not been released by police because she is a minor. The teenager is being held in the Cherokee YES Center and has been referred to juvenile court as the police investigation continues.
'Rent-a-Hitman' is a parody site, featuring fake testimonials, a request form, and even a job application for aspiring hitmen. The owner of the parody website told People last year he routinely hands over suspicious requests to local police.
''There's a lot of beneficial information that can be shared to tell adults and children that the internet is certainly not a safe place. There are bad people out there,'' Bob Innes, the owner of RentAHitman.com told People.
