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An upstate New York man tried to hire a hitman to murder his girlfriend’s ex — then offered a farmer $1,000 and a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon to feed the victim to his hogs, authorities said.
Except the entire thing was a set-up — and both the hitman and the farmer were working for the feds, according to a criminal complaint.
Jeal Sutherland, 57, pleaded guilty last week to the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire after the hitman he hired turned out to be an informant for the Department of Justice and the farmer he bribed turned out to be an FBI agent.
Sutherland wanted his girlfriend’s ex – with whom she had a child – murdered and his body disposed of as soon as the would-be victim was released from state prison at the end of January, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Shortly after the man returned home, Sutherland sent him a menacing note stuffed into the mouth of a dead goose, federal officials said.
“Sutherland admitted that in late January 2025, he had another man put the carcass of a Canada goose on the doorstep of the victim’s mother. When the dead bird was discovered, it had a threatening note stuffed in its beak,” prosecutors recounted.
He then recruited a man who was already in prison for setting the intended target’s mother’s car on fire – an associate who he used as an enforcer to collect money from people, according to officials and reports.
Little did he know that that man was working with the feds.
The confidential informant, whose name was not released by officials, is a convicted murderer on lifetime parole who agreed to cooperate in exchange for leniency.
Sutherland and the informant met over several months to discuss the plot – sometimes at a bowling alley, sometimes over breakfast – and hammer out the details.
The pair planned to rent a van from a nun, secure an EZPass, lure the victim to a parole office with the promise of a job, and drive his remains out to a farm in Pennsylvania where they would be consumed by ravenous hogs.
In all, the job would cost $1,450, plus the bottle of bourbon, the duo determined — $1,000 for the pig farmer and $450 for the nun’s van (including gas).
“We take him to a farm and let the hogs eat him,” the confidential informant said in a recorded conversation.
During one conversation, Sutherland said he wanted a picture of his rival’s dead body.
“Well you want to see, you want to see the proof he’s dead?” the confidential informant asked.
“Of course,” Sutherland responded.
During another recorded conversation, Sutherland began to express some concerns about the plan, asking the informant if it might be too difficult to lift a dead 200 pound body.
“Dude, when he’s got a bullet in his head, it’s not hard to pick up nobody,” the informant replied.
The plot was foiled by the FBI and now Sutherland faces between seven and nine years in prison, however U.S. District Court Judge Mae D’Agostino can impose a shorter prison term at Sutherland’s sentencing in September.
“Mr. Sutherland’s diabolical plot intended to violently end a man’s life and intimidate his family,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig L. Tremaroli said. “Thanks to the swift actions taken by FBI Albany and our law enforcement partners, that plan never came to fruition.”
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