Wisconsin father and son accused in murder-for-hire plot to kill family member over inheritance

A Wisconsin father and son have been charged with conspiring to kill a family member in a murder-for-hire scheme over an estate.

Joseph Anthony Hoppa, 62, and Jason P. Hoppa, 38, have each been charged with one count of solicitation of first-degree intentional murder for attempting to hire a hitman to “eliminate” their intended target. , the other son of Joseph.

The couple offered a ‘hit man’ a total of $40,000 to kill the family member for property the target had inherited from his grandfather, including the property and an undisclosed amount of money.

Joseph and Jason told the man that he would receive $20,000 now and $20,000 when he took [the intended victim] outside,’ authorities said.

Police were first contacted and called to a house in the city of Berlin in late October by the ‘killer’ who claimed the Hoppas had offered him money to get the victim out.

The man told officers he had spoken to the father and son in July and was finally coming clean because he could no longer live with the information, according to WBAY-TV.

The hitman, whose name has not been released, told investigators that Jason had “a lot of firearms” and that he would put the serial number on one of the guns on file so they could not be traced.

Jason and Joseph’s family member had been the primary beneficiary of his grandfather’s estate after his death, including his property and cash in Berlin, Wisconsin.

Family members believed that the brother had conned and manipulated the grandfather into turning over the property to them.

Joseph first met the intended hit man while looking for a place to live and inquiring about a property with Joseph.

During a meeting between Joseph and the hit man, Hoppa told him that he could move into the property if he was willing to “do a few favors in the future.”

Several weeks later, Joseph met the man again and asked if he could ‘kill someone and get away with it’.

Joseph told the man “you want to kill my son” during this meeting, according to a criminal complaint.

In response, the hit man said: ‘What happened to blood is thicker than water?’

Joseph, the father of the target, reportedly replied: ‘There is no love here, I have no love for this child. He has to go, no ifs, I buts, he has to go.’

Joseph also allegedly threatened to harm the hit man if he went to the police.

Jason also spoke to the hitman and said he “wanted him to kill his brother,” giving him tips on where the cameras were on the property and how he could ‘pop’ the victim and walk away.

In a subsequent meeting inside a Berlin bar, Jason showed the hit man a gun, who is also reportedly featured on Jason’s Facebook page.

The hitman backed out of cooperating with authorities in November but agreed to record a phone call with Joseph Hoppa.

“If you still want it done, I’ll go down and put a bullet in his head right now before I leave town,” the alleged hitman said during the recorded conversation.

Joseph replied, ‘I can’t do something like that.’

Hitman: ‘Is this something you’re still interested in after this court sh*t ends and you get paid?’

Joseph: ‘I think I wouldn’t want anyone to do it, but there are other things that could be done later. Right now I have to wait until everything is done and I get paid. Otherwise, you would get nothing.

The call continued:

Hitman: “The only reason I’m asking is because I talked to Jason the other day and he said he was going to talk to you and because of the conversation you and I had.”

JOSEPH: ‘Yes, yes,’ he said. As long as I have your number, if I need to do any work or anything, I’ll let you know.

JOSEPH: ‘Right now I’m just trying to make things work so I get paid, that’s the problem, I haven’t been paid at all.’

Hitman: ‘Very good, sounds good. Let me know.’

On November 30, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Joseph’s home and the man was taken into custody.

After his arrest, Joseph said he didn’t want to hurt his son, telling officers, ‘No, I’m a Christian’ and ‘I wouldn’t do something like that.’

While speaking to police, he admitted that he believed his father’s estate would have been split 50/50 with his son, the intended goal.

He also admitted to talking to the hitman, but denied wanting to hurt his son.

“He said that even though he is unhappy with his son, he would not want anything to happen,” the criminal complaint says.

“He said he would feel really bad about it and again stated that he would never hire anyone or harm his son in any way, shape or form.

“He said it’s not him, he was born and raised a Catholic and was an altar boy,” the complaint continues.

Joseph Hoppa has claimed that it was the hit man who wanted to kill his son.

We then ask him what his response was when someone he barely knows offers to kill his son. JOSEPH ANTHONY HOPPA stated that he did not need this type of care and that he did not want to call the police or anything to draw attention to himself,” the complaint states.

Another search warrant was executed on Jason’s property and he too denied wanting to kill his brother, but admitted they were upset over the inheritance issue.

When questioned, Jason said that he doubted his father would manage to kill his brother.

During the search, officers found a Beretta Grandone VT that had the serial numbers blacked out. Jason had posted a photo of a 9mm gun to his Facebook page in 2012.

Officers also discovered a 20-gauge sawed-off shotgun, according to the complaint.

The Hoppas appeared in Green Lake County Court for an initial appearance Tuesday.

The victim’s lawyer on his behalf asked the judge to remove his father, Joseph, from his own home because he lives only 100 meters away.

The judge called that a “drastic remedy.”

“I will order that the defendant not have any cameras that can record or view the victim at home, and the defendant may not use anything to improve his eyesight, such as binoculars or telescopes,” Judge Mark Slate said Tuesday.

Joseph and Jason have posted $50,000 cash bail.