CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – An Iowa woman has been sentenced to more than 7 years in prison for using a Craigslist help-wanted ad to solicit someone to kill her father.
U.S. District Judge Linda Reade gave the 87-month prison term Wednesday to 23-year-old Megan Schmidt of Dubuque.
Schmidt pleaded guilty in November to using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire.
In a plea agreement, Schmidt admitted that she posted Craigslist ads seeking someone to do a "one-time job" for $10,000. She later told one man who responded that she wanted her father dead and that it would be best to "either shoot or stab him because he is a bigger man."
That man contacted authorities. The Dubuque County Sheriff's Office then conducted an undercover operation that led to Schmidt's arrest.