BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Two people are facing federal charges stemming from the “apparent” torture and killing of a victim outside the United States, the Vermont office of the United States Attorney announced Tuesday.
Sean Fiore, 36, of Burlington, was indicted Tuesday on a charge of paying about $4,000 to someone outside the United States to make a video of the killing. He was also indicted on charges of conspiracy to kidnap and murder someone overseas and five counts of child pornography.
The name of a co-defendant was blacked out in court documents.
Fiore’s attorney did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
The indictment says that between November 2018 and April 2019, Fiore and the co-defendant made the plans for the killing, including multiple payments from Fiore totaling about $4,000, to make a video of the killing of the adult male.
“Fiore and Codefendant #1 communicated using email and social media regarding Fiore’s specifications for the video,” prosecutors said in a news release.
During those communications, Fiore allegedly asked his co-defendant to burn the victim on the face and elsewhere with a lit cigarette, fill his mouth with human waste, “wrap his head in plastic, and smother him by sitting on his face for at least seven minutes, or until he died,” the indictment said.
On April 8, 2019, Fiore received a link from an email used by the co-defendant that accessed a video “which depicted the torture and apparent killing of an adult male who was restrained and tied to a bed,” prosecutors said.
The documents do not say in which country the apparent killing is alleged to have taken place in.
Fiore was first arrested in Burlington on child pornography charges in May 2019. He was initially released on conditions, but in May 2020 he was ordered detained pending trial for violating the conditions of his release.
The third superseding indictment released Tuesday included the murder for hire and conspiracy charges as well as the charges against the co-defendant.
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