MILWAUKEE – New federal charges say a group of three journalists played a major role in derailing a murder-for-hire plot in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday.
The journalists, who have not been publicly identified, discovered the plot while working on a story about a murder-for-hire website on the dark web. While investigating the site, they found that a Wisconsin woman had paid the website administrator to kill a man, according to the charges.
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According to the Journal Sentinel story, the criminal complaint indicates the journalists first shared their discovery with the man who was the target of the plot. On Jan. 12, the three journalists and the man explained their discovery to Sun Prairie police.
The FBI later searched the woman’s home and arrested her. Kelly Harper, 37, of Columbus was charged Monday, and if convicted, she faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
