A Michigan woman pleaded guilty last week to trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband — using a fake “Rent-A-Hitman” website.
Wendy Lynn Wein, 52, faces up to nine years in prison when she is sentenced on January 13, 2022, WJBK reports.
Wein used a pseudonym but gave her real contact information when she made a “service request” on the website, which had been created in 2005 as a class project. The website owner contacted Michigan State Police with the information.
An undercover detective contacted Wein, posing as a representative of the website, then met with her at a cafe, where she told the detective she wanted her former husband killed. She gave him his home and work addresses and his work schedule and said she’d pay $5,000 for the hit. At a second meeting later that day, she made a $200 downpayment.
Wein was arrested and arraigned on July 21, 2020, charged with solicitation of murder and using a computer to commit a crime, the same charges she pleaded guilty to on Friday.
The “Rent-A-Hitman” website owner, Bob Innes, told WJBK it’s not the first time he’s handed over information about requests for murders, abductions, or school shootings since he put the site up in 2005 and promptly forgot about it.
“In 2008 I go back into the inbox to check the emails and I’m shocked there are 250-300 emails from people around the world asking for asset extraction,” he said.
On the surface, the website is a little ridiculous, touting its existence as “Your Point & Click Solution since 1920” and guaranteeing it is 100 percent HIPPA compliant with the “Hitman Information Privacy and Protection Act of 1964.” “The Dark Web Is Not Safe, But RAH Is!” the site proclaims.
“I can’t believe someone would think that a web site like this exists,” said Michigan State Police Lt. Brian Oleksyk.
Wein obviously believed it, filling out a “service request form” and asking for help with an “issue.”
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[Featured image: Wendy Lynn Wein/Monroe County Jail]
