Intellectual Property Law

When Tonia Mullins decided to hire a hit man to kidnap and murder her lover's wife, she didn't scour the local underworld dives or run an ad in Soldier of Fortune. She texted.

"Don't care who as long as they can in no way be traced 2 me or u guys through someone else," the 32-year-old Oklahoma woman texted a would-be intermediary.  "Price is going 2 be the big factor here. What r we lookin at?"

Seven to nine years, it turns out. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Federal officials say Mullins conspired in September with 26-year-old Michael Andrew Crawford -- an Army soldier deployed to South Korea -- to have Crawford's wife killed. Crawford and Mullins planned to use Jacinda Crawford's $250,000 life insurance policy to buy a nice house and move in together, according to prosecutors.

Unsure where to start, Mullins sought the advice of a friend, Robin Berry, first asking about what kind of poison could be used to kill the victim without leaving a toxicology trail, then taking Berry up on her offer to hire a professional to handle the whole messy job. The negotiations took place primarily over text messages from Mullins' T-Mobile cell phone, leaving a clear -- if lexicographically challenging -- trail of electronic evidence for the cops, according to court records (.pdf).

"Okay lmao if they took her are they suppose to give her back? LOl," Berry texted, on September 3.

"Fuck no? only if there is no air can she return ? worth 250k,"Mullins replied.

Tonia Mullins

Mullins allegedly consulted with Crawford over Skype, hashing out how much they should pay to have his wife killed

After an informant tipped off the local police, Berry agreed to cooperate in setting up a sting against her friend. On September 9, Mullins confessed to Berry that she didn't really have money to pay for a hit, and Berry replied that the button man she'd found might be flexible. "Well maybe I can het friend n trade something he owes me big favors anyway," Berry texted.

"If I can do ne thang let me know. Robin I swear I will give the $ when it comes n ...  that is n no way a problem ... as long as accident I."

Three days later, Berry introduced Mullins, and Crawford's aunt, Regina Hercules, to an undercover agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, who was posing as the hired gun. Mullins gave the fake hit man a promissory note for $5,000, and a bag of jewelry as collateral. She was then arrested -- with the English language the only murder victim.

This month, Mullins and Hercules pleaded guilty to conspiracy and use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. Crawford was indicted (.pdf) last week for conspiracy.

Telephone abuse is also on the blotter in Alabama, where Nicholas Shaun Bunch is charged (.pdf) with identity theft and "pretexting" for allegedly making a social engineering call to T-Mobile in March 2007, posing as a subscriber to obtain confidential phone records.

It's the second federal case for Bunch, who was charged earlier this year with making a bomb threat and thousands of harassing and obscene phone calls to online fashion retailer Redcats in late 2007. According to an FBI affidavit (.pdf) filed in the case, Bunch used the Caller ID spoofing site Spoofcard to cover his tracks, but was turned in by his mother, who worried that he was headed for more serious trouble after getting involved with telephone chat lines, and what the affidavit calls "cybergangs."

Another alleged telephone-terrorist faces a new charge (.pdf) in Louisiana of unauthorized possession of "access devices" -- typically stolen credit cards or long distance calling codes. As with Bunch, this is Daniel Travis Phillips' second crack at federal justice. An indictment (.pdf) in April claims the Missouri man phoned eight different women in Louisiana in January and February, making death threats while demanding the women perform sex acts on themselves. "If you do not do what I tell you to, I will put a gun in your mouth," he allegedly told one victim on January 31st.

Phillips initially pleaded not-guilty in that case, but he's scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing in Lake Charles on Monday morning.

Fed Blotter is Threat Level's weekly roundup of computer crime cases in the federal courts. If you've been indicted, or are about to be, please let us know.

See Also:

• Fed Blotter: MySpace Sex Offender Charged With Running Fake Church
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• Fed Blotter: Pedophile's Online Sock Puppets Included Fake Johnny Depp
• Fed Blotter: Alleged Hackers Charged With Highway Robbery, Literally
• Fed Blotter: New Charges Filed Against Alleged Cyber Peeping Tom
• Fed Blotter: Citibank Worker Allegedly Plunders Customer Accounts