Man Allegedly Hires Hitman to Kill Ex After Breakup

A Beverly Hills man is accused of trying to have a woman killed after she ended their romantic relationship. Scott Quinn Berkett, 24, met the woman through a Facebook fan page about an anime show, and she flew to Los Angeles to meet him in October of last year. After that trip, though, she told him it was over, but police say he wouldn't accept it and kept contacting her, even after one of her family members contacted Berkett's father and asked him to intervene, the Los Angeles Times reports. Then, the FBI alleges in an affidavit, Berkett sent about $14,000 in bitcoin payments to a group on the dark web that had advertised murder-for-hire services, but which turned out to be a scam, CBS 2 reports.

Berkett allegedly told the group, "I’d like it to look like an accident, but robbery gone wrong may work better. So long as she is dead." The group apparently passed along the information to a media outlet, which contacted the FBI. Berkett allegedly later sent another $1,000 to an undercover FBI agent who contacted him pretending to be the hitman he'd hired. Berkett was arrested Friday and faces a murder-for-hire charge, ABC 7 reports. If convicted, he could end up behind bars for a decade. (More California stories.)