An Alabama man tried to hire a hit man to kill his wife and six children because they “had turned against him,” only to discover he was confessing his planned crimes to an undercover federal agent.

Mohammad A.H. Mohammad, 64, has pleaded guilty in federal court to seven counts of murder for hire, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Prim F. Escalona announced this week. He was indicted in September 2024, but the circumstances surrounding the familial strife are said to have begun years before.

In November 2021, Mohammad was arrested by the Hoover Police Department (HPD) and charged with domestic violence for assaulting one of his daughters, according to a criminal complaint. The charge was later dismissed.

On Nov. 23, 2021, three protection from abuse orders were issued in Jefferson County, Alabama, against the father. He was “restrained from assaulting, threatening, abusing, harassing, following, interfering, or stalking” the protected persons and/or “the child of the protected person,” the complaint continued.

Mohammad and his wife, referred to as S.A., were married in March 2021. At the time of the court document being filed last September, S.A. was 55 years old, while Mohammad’s children — three sons and three daughters — were ages 34, 32, 30, 29, 22, and 21, respectively, prosecutors said.

The “protected persons” cited in the protection from abuse (PFA) orders were the mother, one son, and one daughter. S.A. also filed a “Petition for Protection from Abuse,” where she reportedly expressed extreme fear of her husband.

“[Mohammad] has told [Wife] he will come after [her],” the petition stated, per prosecutors. The wife is quoted as saying, “[Mohammad] has hurt me and my kids & used weapons against us [… Mohammad] said he wanted to shoot my daughter between the eyes.”

In another document filed by the wife, “she described how her husband ‘threaten[ed] to lock us in the basement and kill us. He always threatens me and my children with violence. He has put his hands on my kids and sent them to the emergency room. He has put a gun & knife against my kids heads and throats. He has shot guns at us.”

Mohammad and his family resided in Hoover, Alabama, at the time of the indictment, where the man was a plumber and owned his own business. When the indictment was filed, the married couple were “involved in active divorce proceedings.”

On April 22, 2022, Mohammad was arrested by Hoover police officers and charged with felony first-degree stalking for allegedly violating the PFA orders by placing GPS tracking devices on the cars of his family members, including his wife. From there, the alleged abuse only intensified.

The following January, the vehicle of a “close friend of Mohammad’s wife” was found burned. Hoover police and fire department units responded to the home where the vehicle was parked and found surveillance footage capturing a suspect’s vehicle.

“According to the HPD, the suspect vehicle had been purchased by Mohammad,” the indictment stated. The next day, a Ram pickup truck driven by one of Mohammad’s sons “was set on fire in the driveway of Wife’s residence.”

This language suggests the married couple had been living apart at this time.

Chilling events continued as summer turned to fall and then winter in 2023. In late August of that year, a GPS tracking device was found on the car of one of Mohammad’s daughters, prosecutors said. Roughly one month later, a Toyota 4Runner SUV operated by one of the defendant’s sons “and three other vehicles were found burned in a suspicious fire.”

The next day, S.A. reported to police that she found two GPS tracking devices on her vehicles. And four days later, the son whose 4Runner was found burned found a similar device on a vehicle. On Dec. 10, 2023, another vehicle was burned at a home, this time belonging to one of Mohammad’s daughters, authorities said.

This last burning reportedly occurred the very day after S.A. “received a call from a man on behalf of Mohammad in an attempt to reconcile the marriage” between them. She refused, the Hoover Police Department noted.

Four days after the call, Mohammad was arrested and charged with violation of a protective order for “having an associate contact” his wife against the protection from abuse orders. A hearing was held to revoke his bond, during which an audio recording captured by a witness was played.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the defendant appeared to suggest he was willing to directly hurt his family.

“If you hurt them (Mohammad’s family), you’ll go to hell forever,” the witness is quoted as saying.

“No, God will reward me,” Mohammad reportedly replied.

His bond was revoked until Feb. 26, 2024, when he was released from state custody. Roughly six months later, a cooperating witness (CW1) spoke with the FBI, claiming Mohammad made repeated requests for this witness to find someone to “take care of” his family members. The defendant is alleged to have described his arrests and “instances of arson.”

The criminal complaint states:

Mohammad showed CW1 photographs of burned vehicles on his phone. Mohammad explained that he felt his pride and self-dignity had been destroyed throughout the falling-out with his family over the last few years. Mohammad told CW1 he was willing to “die for self-dignity” and “die for pride,” and requested CW1 to find Mohammad someone who was willing to “take care of” his family for him. CW1 told Mohammad that people from CW1’s culture, weren’t setting things on fire, but were “killing every day.” Mohammad responded with, “find me somebody then! Find me somebody. I’ll pay. All I need is a number” and similar comments. At another point in the same conversation, Mohammad told CW1, “find me somebody. You say you got people where you from, man. Just find me somebody. You don’t have to be a part of it. Just get me a name and they number. And I’ll take it from there.”

The defendant is also accused of telling the cooperating witness “get me that name and number, or I don’t want to see your face again.” When CW1 “agreed to find someone,” he was “immediately compensated by Mohammad, who paid for CW1’s hotel room for that night and several additional nights,” the complaint stated.

Mohammad is said to have continued fervently requesting a hitman from this witness — while, unbeknownst to him, the FBI listened in.

“CW1 told Mohammad, ‘I’ma [sic] have that number for you in a couple days. We goin’ do this s—,” the complaint said, to which Mohammad responded, “I need this s— done!” The cooperating witness then requested a couple more days, and an undercover FBI agent was tasked with posing as a hitman.

On the afternoon of August 28, 2024, CW1 contacted Mohammad to arrange a meeting and provide the phone number of the undercover agent. Phones were then purchased on which Mohammad reportedly continued to speak with CW1.

Eventually, Mohammad met with the undercover agent — who he believed was a hitman — at an undisclosed location. During the meeting, the defendant explained “how his family had turned against him” and said “his family had set him up to be arrested and removed from his family home,” per the complaint.

He also alleged “his wife had engaged in multiple extra-marital affairs and conspired to steal his money and other assets from him” and showed the agent photos from his phone of his family members as well as “burned cars and burned structures belonging to his family members,” prosecutors stated.

Then, he drove the agent past the house where his wife and two of his children lived, as well as the home where one of his daughters resided, per the complaint. He is said to have offered the undercover officer $20,000 to kill his wife and $5,000 for each of his children killed.

“Listen to me brother. This[sic] are seven people,” Mohammad allegedly told the agent, to which they replied, “Seven?”

“Six kids, and the mom. You pick and choose who you gunna take out, and get paid,” the defendant allegedly added, proceeding to refer to his wife by a derogatory name and suggesting the agent “start” with her.

“Start with one. Take your time,” Mohammed later said, according to the document. “Second. Third. Fourth. Five. I don’t give f—. Just, start with one.”

The defendant said he could get the money to pay the believed-hitman within two weeks, but “little, little. I don’t want any bank activity.” He then allegedly expressed how little he thought of his family and again indicated who his primary target was.

“The others, it’s okay. They are trash. Cockroaches. You know. But this one, deserve more,” he is quoted as saying, allegedly referring to his wife. Mohammad provided the agent with $550 as a down payment for the murders, with the balance to be paid upon the deaths of the intended targets, court documents said.

Mohammad is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 10.