BUFFALO, N.Y. — An East Aurora woman was sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release for attempting to hire a hitman to assault her former boyfriend in Florida.
Yanyan Lesser, 48, had pleaded guilty to charges in August. She had faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the office of U.S. Attorney James Kennedy.
As part of her supervised release, she's now barred from "possessing a computer for telephone device with internet capabilities."
Prosecutors say Lesser went online and solicited what she believed to be a hitman to carry out an assault against her former boyfriend in Florida.
She had allegedly transferred 1.26 bitcoins (approximately $4,577) to an unknown person to pay for her ex-boyfriend to be beat up, and transferred an additional .694 bitcoins (approximately $2,707) three days later for him to be crippled from the beating.
U.S. attorneys say the messages Lesser sent included, "Please give him a good beating and let he always walk in wheelchair," and "make him walk by wheelchair or crutches forever."
