An Albany man already locked up on federal child-pornography charges is now accused of hatching a jailhouse plot to kidnap, poison with fentanyl and kill two FBI special agents and the assistant U.S. attorney on his case by dumping their bodies into a woodchipper. A newly unsealed complaint alleges 23-year-old Aaron Corey tried to line up outsiders to steal evidence and eliminate the investigators using handwritten jailhouse letters and recorded phone calls.
Corey was hit Tuesday with a fresh federal complaint charging him with attempted murder-for-hire, solicitation of a crime of violence and obstruction of justice, then arraigned in Albany before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart and ordered held without bail, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York. If convicted on the new counts, prosecutors say Corey faces up to 50 years in prison, a potential $750,000 fine and as much as five years of supervised release.
Complaint outlines gruesome plan
The affidavit alleges Corey, who uses the online handle “Baggeth” and identifies himself as part of the 764 network, sent handwritten letters from a county jail asking that the two FBI agents and the federal prosecutor be kidnapped, injected with fentanyl and pushed into a woodchipper, details first reported by the Tampa Free Press. Prosecutors also say Corey wanted electronic devices previously seized by the FBI to be swapped out so they could not be used against him at trial.
How the scheme unraveled
The criminal complaint, which federal prosecutors filed and unsealed Tuesday, quotes Corey writing in one of his letters: “I need 3 people killed.” According to a filing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a fellow inmate mailed Corey’s letters to Corey’s attorney, who then alerted the FBI. Under agents’ direction, that inmate later passed Corey a phone number for an undercover officer.
The affidavit alleges Corey spoke multiple times with that undercover operative and arranged for his fiancée, who lives outside the United States, to wire roughly $700 as down payments on the alleged murder and evidence-tampering schemes.
Connections to a violent online network
Authorities say Corey is linked to “764,” described as a decentralized, nihilistic violent-extremist collective accused of grooming and coercing minors into producing sexual and gore content online. Coverage by CyberScoop along with law enforcement filings report multiple recent arrests tied to the network as investigators pursue leaders and administrators of its offshoot groups.
Charges, statutes and what comes next
The complaint cites alleged violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1958 (murder-for-hire), 18 U.S.C. § 373 (solicitation of a crime of violence) and 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) (obstruction of an official proceeding), and seeks to hold Corey accountable on top of the separate child-pornography case he already faces. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Perry is prosecuting the new complaint, and the FBI is leading the investigation. Corey remains in pretrial detention while the case moves forward.
The charges are accusations, and Corey is presumed innocent unless and until prosecutors prove guilt in court. Federal authorities say the case is part of a broader push to disrupt violent online groups and to protect investigators and victims who may be targeted by them.
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