Kankakee Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison for Plotting Murder-for-hire Of Ex-wife

Urbana, Ill. – A Kankakee, Ill., man, Joshua N. Bisping, 33, has been ordered to serve 10 years in federal prison for his engagement in a murder-for-hire plot against his ex-wife, as announced by U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis, Central District of Illinois. U.S. District Judge Harold Baker today sentenced Bisping to the statutory maximum sentence and ordered that Bisping remain on supervised release for three years following his release from prison. Bisping was also ordered to have no direct contact with the victim.

On May 29, 2014, Bisping pled guilty to use of interstate commerce facilities in commission of a murder-for-hire plot. One year earlier, in late May 2013, Bisping attempted to hire an individual to kill his ex-wife. The individual introduced Bisping to an undercover ATF agent posing as a hit man. Following the meeting, Bisping met in person with the undercover agent on at least three occasions which were video and audio recorded.  During the meetings, Bisping discussed paying the undercover agent $5,000 to murder his ex-wife and to make it look like a robbery gone bad. Bisping and the agent discussed Bisping’s obtaining a picture of his ex-wife for the agent, establishing an alibi for the time of the murder, and, if questioned by police, Bisping’s denial of any knowledge of the murder-for-hire plot. After one meeting, Bisping and the agent drove by the ex-wife’s residence so the agent would know where she lived.

Bisping was arrested in early June 2013, and has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest.

The case was investigated by the Kankakee Area Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Kankakee Police Department; and the Kankakee County State’s Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller prosecuted the case.