“Church Leader” to Plead Guilty in Murder-For-Hire Case
The “church leader” accused of trying to hire a hitman on the darkweb is planning to accept a plea agreement, according to court records.
DeAnna Marie Stinson, 50, stands accused of soliciting a crime of violence and murder-for-hire. Stinson spent $12,000 in Bitcoin on a darkweb murder-for-hire site, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
A federal court status report indicates that Stinson will be accepting a plea agreement. Per WFLA:
Stinson’s “case will resolve with an open plea to the court… A change of plea hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, January 19, 2022.”
Seems like just yesterday that this site published an article about the defendant’s arrest, seemingly moving from arrest to conviction in record time. However, the U.S. Marshals Service raided Stinson’s home and arrested her on September 24, 2021. Still only months between arrest and conviction but not as drastic as I had remembered.
Unless the statement of facts contains something surprising, no useful information will come out of this case. This is unfortunate as this case is an atypical “darkweb murder-for-hire” case; a federal law enforcement officer posed as the hitman (feds possibly ran this murder-for-hire site as well) the defendant had hired. In the usual cases involving the same crime, the defendants attempt to hire a hitman through one of the many murder-for-hire sites operated by “Yura,” such as Besa Mafia, Crimebay, Cosa Nostra International Network, Camorra Hitmen, and the Sicilian Hitmen International Network.
I was hoping we would get to see at least some information about fed-run murder-for-hire scams. Perhaps this is one reason Stinson so quickly indicated her willingness to sign a plea deal.
This “church leader” is currently being held in Pinellas County Jail. The change of plea hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on January 19, 2022.
Oh yeah. Here is the church leader bit. Patch.com:
Stinson is the director of finance for Bible-Based Fellowship Church at 4811 Erlich Road in Carrollwood.
In addition to her work at the church, Stinson is the founder of Woman of Excellence Consulting in New Tampa.
According to Woman of Excellence website, Stinson founded the organization in 2002 to help small, minority-owned businesses who can’t afford administrative, organizational or accounting services.
WFLA: “Change of plea hearing set for Tampa woman arrested in murder-for-hire plot” archive.org | archive.is | archive[…].onion
Patch.com: