BOSTON – An inmate pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with a murder-for-hire scheme.
Mason Stickney, 21, of Byfield, pleaded guilty to three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce in the commission of murder-for-hire. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for June 13, 2019. Stickney was indicted in November 2017; he is currently in state custody on unrelated charges.
In October 2017, Stickney, who was in custody at the Essex County House of Corrections, approached a fellow inmate and solicited his assistance in the murders of a police officer, a restaurateur from New Hampshire and a student. The fellow inmate reported Stickney’s solicitation to authorities. Thereafter, at the request of investigators, the inmate provided Stickney with the phone number of a would-be hitman, who was actually an undercover agent.
In recorded conversations between Nov. 3 and Nov. 8, 2017, both on the phone and in person at the jail, Stickney described to the undercover agent the individuals he wanted killed and how he wanted the murders committed. Stickney promised to pay the undercover agent $10,000 upon his release from jail, as well as to “get rid of three people for you guys.”
Each charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
