Prosecutors: Des Plaines woman used bitcoin to hire dark web company to kill lover's wife

A Des Plaines woman is being held in DuPage County jail on $250,000 bail after being accused of hiring a dark web company to kill the wife of her lover.

Prosecutors say Tina Jones, 31, of the 700 block of River Road, paid $10,000 in bitcoin to the company in January to have the Woodridge woman, a clinical social worker based in Naperville, killed.

Jones, a registered nurse at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, was charged with solicitation of murder for hire after turning herself in to Woodridge police Tuesday evening. Hospital officials said she has been suspended pending an investigation.

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

Prosecutors said Woodridge police began investigating a tip they received last Thursday that a woman in their town was the subject of a murder-for-hire plot. Prosecutors said the tip was called in by the CBS News program "48 Hours."

"The charge brought against (Tina) Jones this morning is extremely serious," DuPage State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a written statement. "Any attempt, or perceived attempt, to bring physical harm to another individual will be met by the full force and effect of the law."

Woodridge police Chief Brian Cunningham said authorities have seen a "dramatic increase" in the dark web as relates to crime.

Jones is scheduled to be arraigned on May 15 in front of DuPage Judge George Bakalis. If convicted, she faces a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.

If she posts bail, Jones is prohibited from contacting the victim or the victim's husband.