MIAMI – A Florida man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to using the U.S. Postal Service to send instructions and $10,000 to a man for plotting the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s new lover, prosecutors said.
Ryan Aziz Ferris Hadeed, 43, of Pembroke Pines, pleaded guilty in Fort Lauderdale federal court to a charge of using the mail to commit murder-for-hire, the Miami Herald reported.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Hadeed admitted that in September 2021, he mailed a letter to a man requesting “murder services.”
“I need someone eliminated. I’ve been told you can arrange that. $10,000 All in cash and upfront,” the letter allegedly read. “Person located in Tampa.”
“You can be there and back in a day. You get their photo, first name, work address and home address,” the letter continued, signed by an “Alan Smithee,” according to court records.
However, the person who received the letter was a confidential source who used to work for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The source tipped off investigators, according to the newspaper.
Prosecutors said Hadeed, in his guilty plea, admitted to mailing the three letters in September 2021, according to the Herald. The unnamed victim is still alive, the newspaper reported.
According to their news release, prosecutors said Hadeed instructed the man to signal acceptance of his offer by posting marked sheets of paper on a storefront window. The letter also told the man to buy a coffee at The Little Coffee Shoppe in Coral Springs, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
“Information and payment will be sent once you accept,” the letter stated. “If not you will not be contacted again. Name and return address are fake.”
On Nov. 10, 2021, investigators said the intended hitman received his final letter from Hadeed at his Coral Springs gun store, the Herald reported. Hadeed had purchased a gun from the store several years earlier, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Hadeed left the country the same day the final letter was sent, prosecutors said.
“During a secondary customs inspection of Hadeed when he returned to the U.S. from his international trip, additional evidence of the crime was uncovered,” prosecutors said in the news release. “Law enforcement officers, who had learned of the crime, arrested Hadeed.”
The letter included a description and photographs of the intended victim, his home address and likely travel schedule. Hadeed also gave the man a deadline for the killing and included $10,000 cash in the envelope, prosecutors said.
Hadeed faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on Oct. 26, the U.S. Attorney’s Office news release stated.
