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Tina Jones considering prosecution's plea offer in bitcoin murder-for-hire case

Attorneys for the former Loyola University Medical Center nurse accused of using the dark web to hire a hitman to kill her former lover's wife say she is considering a plea deal offered by prosecutors.

Attorney Stephen Hall told Judge George Bakalis on Friday he expects to know by the April 24 court date whether Tina Jones will accept the offer or plan to set the case for trial.

Outside court, Hall shared some details of the offer.

"The deal offered was straight prison time," Hall said. "A significant amount."

DuPage County prosecutors do not comment on potential deals.

Jones, 32, formerly of the 700 block of River Road in Des Plaines, is charged with four counts of solicitation of murder for hire, two counts of solicitation of murder and attempted first-degree murder.

All charges against Jones are Class X felonies, meaning she will not be eligible for probation if found guilty. She faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious offense.

Prosecutors allege Jones paid more than $10,000 in bitcoin to the Cosa Nostra International Network in January 2018 to kill a Woodridge woman who works as a clinical social worker in Naperville.

The website, however, was deemed to be a scam. The CBS program "48 Hours" discovered the contract between Jones and the website while researching another story and alerted Woodridge police, authorities said.

In her "kill order," officials said, Jones gave the hitman clear instructions to make sure her lover was unharmed and provided a schedule for when he would be at work and when his wife would be alone. Jones also said to make it look like an accident.

The victim's husband is an anesthesiologist who completed his residency at Loyola and is still based in Maywood.

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  Tina Jones walks out of the DuPage County courthouse in Wheaton, after pleading not guilty to solicitation of murder and attempted murder during her arraignment last spring. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
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