North Carolina man pleads guilty to murder-for-hire plot targeting 2 Philadelphia-area residents
A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to federal charges for a murder-for-hire plot targeting two people living in the Philadelphia area.
Xin Guang Guo, 48, of Plymouth, North Carolina, was arrested and charged in October for a plan to pay another person $30,000 to kill two people who lived in the Philadelphia area.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives learned from a confidential source on Sept. 30, 2025, that Guo had hired the source to kill his former business partner and the partner's paramour, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The source said he knew Guo from his North Philadelphia neighborhood, court documents say.
Investigators got copies of text messages between the source and Guo that included his plans and information about the targets.
The source told investigators that Guo owns a business that "involves gambling machines" in North Philadelphia, a court document says. In calls monitored by the ATF, Guo said he would pay $15,000 for each murder.
Guo agreed to meet with the hit man in Philadelphia on Oct. 6 to give him $2,500 to buy a gun.
During that meeting, Guo gave the money to an undercover ATF agent whom he thought was the hit man. Guo asked for photos showing that his targets were dead before he paid the rest of the money.
ATF arrested Guo without incident shortly after that meeting, authorities said. He pleaded guilty to two counts of using interstate commerce facilities for a murder-for-hire plot.
Guo remains in custody with sentencing scheduled for July 15. He faces up to 20 years in prison, officials said.