Photo: Michael Vi / Shutterstock.com
RentAHitman.com isn't suspicious at all.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Feb 19, 2022
A 14-year-old girl from Baton Rouge, Louisiana was arrested on Valentine’s Day after trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-boyfriend, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department.
BRPD officers arrested the teenage girl Monday on a solicitation of murder charge for wanting to murder her also 14-year-old ex-boyfriend after being tipped off by a satirical website where people are able to “hire hitmen,” according to WAFB.
The 14-year-old girl allegedly used RentAHitman.com to target her ex.
An administrator of the website reached out to the police officers to address the request they received from the teenager.
Guido Fanelli, the CEO of Rent-A-Hitman said in a statement sent to WAFB: "I wish to thank the Baton Rouge Police Department for taking this matter seriously and sincerely hope that the intended victim receives any help and support they need to come out of this ok."
Upon arrest, the teenage girl was taken to East Baton Rouge Juvenile Detention Center, where she was charged with the crime and "shall be imprisoned at hard labor [i.e. incarceration in state prison] for not less than five years nor more than 20 years," according to the legal assistance website Justia U.S. Law.
“RENT-A-HITMAN is your point & click solution!” reads the website as soon as you load in. “Click below for your FREE CONSULTATION. Your privacy is important to us!”
But unfortunately for that 14-year-old girl, your privacy is actually not important to them — but what is important to them is boasting about their fake operations and touting their made-up testimonials.
According to the site, which has been “operating” since 1920, they have “over 17,985 U.S. based field operatives,” and have “assisted satisfied clients from all walks of life ranging from regular citizens (children & adults) to government employees and even political figures.”
They also deal 100% in accordance with “HIPPA,” the “Hitman Information Privacy & Protection Act of 1964,” not to be confused with HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Fanelli, whose real identity is Bob Innes from California, started the website to trick people into admitting they're murderous urges and turn them into the police to get them arrested.
According to a report by CNN, the website started out as a website for an internet security business but quickly became online bait for people who truly wanted their enemies to die.
The “service requests” that people can fill out on the website go to Innes, where they get filtered out and the serious ones he sends over to law enforcement.
"I thought nobody can be that stupid, and boy have I been proven wrong," says 54-year-old Innes. "These people ... whoever they are, they see HIPAA, they think privacy. So they feel compelled to leave their real information -- names, address, where the intended target is..."
RentAHitman has tricked others in the past.
Just last December, a Michigan woman was also fooled by the fake website and was arrested on charges of solicitation of murder.
52-year-old Wendy Wein had originally signed up using fake information, but started to give her real personal information near the end of her “service request.”
When she went to meet up with the supposed “hitman,” she was met by a police officer in disguise who gave her the chance to walk away but arrested her when she didn’t.
"I just play matchmaker with the police," he says. "I'd rather be a state witness than a state conspirator."
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.