Valentineās Day can be especially rough when you have recently experienced a breakup, and while many might think poorly of their former loves on the auspicious day, few go as far as one 14-year-old girl allegedly did.
It started with a website, aptly named āRentAHitman.com.ā Easily accessible, the website offers murder-for-hire ā in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion.
Everything about the site is sarcastic, but not everyone senses that. As a result, over 150 would-be evildoers have been reeled in and their information handed to police, according to KABC-TV.
Apparently, one of the people desperate enough to attempt to contract a killer through the website was a teenager from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who was arrested on Valentineās Day.
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A website admin, Guido Fanello, contacted the Baton Rouge Police Department in January to let them know of the teenās intent to have her ex-boyfriend killed, according to WAFB-TV.
āWe conducted an investigation on it and through the course of our investigation learned that information was indeed placed on the website,ā BRPD Sgt. Lājean Mckneely said.
āWe made contact with the 14-year-old and then arrested her for soliciting to kill the ex-boyfriend,ā he said.
Police said this teenās arrest is the first known case of a person in Louisiana attempting to hire a hitman through the website, WAFB reported.
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The girl was taken to the East Baton Rouge Juvenile Detention Center and charged with solicitation for Murder, according to a news release from the BRPD.
Bond was set at $75,000, which the girlās mother posted. The judge has also ordered a psychological exam.
Referring to the gotcha website, Mckneely said that it has been around for 17 years and that it has been helping Police identify disgruntled suspects.
āPeople do take it serious and the information theyāve gotten they shared with law enforcement,ā he told WAFB. āAnd they have been beneficial in stopping things from occurring.ā
Webmaster Bob Innes, who developed the site, said most people notice the tone of the pages and submit hoax requests, but about 10 percent of the requests that come through are genuine.
āItās scary because they walk among us,ā Innes said, according to KABC. āI mean, Iāve had cases out of Lake County, and Stockton and Los Angeles. Iām working on a case right now with the LA County Sheriffās Department.
āIt really makes you wonder about whoās out there. Are they your neighbors? Are they your business associates? Are they your ex-spouses? You never know.ā
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.