Broward man is accused of offering $10,000 to have his ex’s boyfriend killed in Tampa
A Pembroke Pines man attempted to arrange a contract killing by mailing $10,000 cash, two photos and the height, weight, home address and possible travel schedule of a Tampa man he wanted dead to a would-be hit man, federal prosecutors claim in a criminal complaint.
The Tampa man is the fiancee of Ryan Hadeed’s ex-girlfriend, the complaint says. The hoped-for hit man? A gun store owner with no criminal history, the criminal complaint says, but a history of helping out Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Though Hadeed lives in Pembroke Pines and the gun store owner lives in Coral Springs, Hadeed is charged in Fort Lauderdale federal court because he allegedly used the U.S. Postal Service to arrange the hit. The exact charge is using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder for hire.
Hadeed had his first appearance Thursday. He’ll be arraigned Jan. 7.
“You have the money so you’re holding all the cards,” the complaint says Hadeed’s Nov. 8 letter read. “Will know when the subject is taken out. Need to be done before the end of 2021.”
The complaint says that letter was the fourth to the gun store owner. Hadeed’s letters, the complaint says, carried a return address in Hialeah with the name “Alan Smithee,” a common pseudonym used by writers and Hollywood directors when they don’t want their name on a project.
The complaint says Hadeed’s first letter, on Sept. 29, said, ’I need someone eliminated. I’ve been told you can arrange that. $10,000. All in cash and up front. 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 asked the would-be hit man to signal his acceptance by buying a cup of coffee at a Coral Springs coffee shop, then putting a blank piece of white paper in the window of his gun store. The complaint said Hadeed had bought a firearm there in 2018.
When law enforcement informed Hadeed’s ex and her now-fiancee about the plot, the fiancee said it reminded him of an unsigned letter he received in 2020, assailing the fidelity and character of Hadeed’s ex-girlfriend.
The ex-girlfriend told investigators “Hadeed was infatuated with her to an unhealthy degree” and had threatened violence when they were dating.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 3:46 PM.
