New Orleans woman arrested for hiring a hitman online

A 34-year-old woman in New Orleans has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after attempting to hire a hitman to eliminate a romantic rival. Zandra Ellis was sentenced by a judge for transmitting threatening communications in interstate commerce.

A fake website connected to the FBI offered evidence of Ellis’s crime. The website was “complete with its own web-based intake form for would-be solicitors to fill out, in their own words, the who, what, when, where, and why for requested services.”

After completing the online form, Ellis met with an undercover FBI agent posing as a hitman and agreed to pay the fake hitman $1,000 to commit the crime. She offered a $100 down payment and was promptly arrested.

Ellis pleaded guilty to transmitting threatening communications in interstate commerce and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $100 fee.