A Missouri man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempting to buy a chemical weapon on the dark web in a plot to kill a woman who ended their relationship, the Justice Department said.
Jason William Siesser, 46, of Columbia, was sentenced on Tuesday, prosecutors wrote in a release. On Aug 4, 2020, Siesser pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to acquire a chemical weapon and one count of aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors said he ordered three 10 mL units of the chemical weapon, enough to kill nearly 300 people.
“Writings located within the home articulated Siesser’s heartache, anger and resentment over a breakup, and a desire for the person who caused the heartache to die,” prosecutors wrote in the readout, describing his alleged motivation for the purchase.
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Siesser reportedly twice attempted to buy chemical dimethylmercury using bitcoin in 2018.
In his first attempt at buying the chemical, he contacted the seller, notifying the package had not yet arrived, saying, “I plan to use it soon after I receive it,” according to the Justice Department.
Additionally, prosecutors accused him of placing the order in the name of a juvenile, though Siesser was the one who accepted the package he believed to be the chemical.
Law enforcement officials issued a search warrant for Siesser’s home and said they found chemical substances on a shelf in his garage. They also found two seemingly unopened shipping boxes on the shelf next to it.
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Within the boxes were “approximately 10 grams of cadmium arsenide, a toxic compound, which can be deadly if ingested or inhaled; approximately 100 grams of cadmium metal; and approximately 500 mL of hydrochloric acid,” the Justice Department said.
