On Monday, a Phoenix man, Ali Joseph, 44, was sentenced to 102 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of Use of Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Murder for Hire.
Joseph’s sentence was to be followed by three years supervised release.
According to the Department of Justice, between May and August 2022, while Joseph was involved in contentious child-custody proceedings with the victim, Joseph had multiple in-person and electronic communications with an individual who was a Confidential Human Source (CHS) for the FBI. In these communications with the CHS, Joseph revealed that he was unwilling to share custody of his children with the victim because he believed her to be an “apostate” who would not raise his children on “the right path,” and he expressed his desire to have her murdered.
Thereafter, the CHS introduced Joseph to an undercover FBI employee who Joseph believed was a hitman. Joseph offered to pay the “hitman” $3,000 to disguise himself as a homeless person who would attempt to rob and violently attack the victim as she left her workplace. Joseph provided the CHS with a $1,000 down payment along with a piece of paper containing photographs of the victim and her identifying information. Joseph told the CHS that he wanted the “hitman” to stab the victim in the neck to ensure she would not survive the attack, and asked the CHS to notify him when the murder was completed by sending him a funny photo or short video.