A man who offered advice to his cousin in the 2014 murder of a woman at an Indonesian resort was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Robert Bibbs, 26, did not directly participate in the slaying of Sheila von Wiese-Mack.
However, prosecutors say text messages he sent to Tommy Schaefer and comments made to the FBI after the killing showed he encouraged the crime and expected to be rewarded.
“It’s horrifying that someone who had every opportunity to step in, prevent a violent murder in fact did nothing of the kind,” said U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.
Prosecutors had asked that Bibbs be sentenced to 11 years.
Bibbs said he accepts “full responsibility for my part.”
“I was lost as a man, I was depressed,” Bibbs said. “I was drinking, I had suffered a number of significant problems and it made me not see clearly.”
He called it a lapse in judgment, which the judge rejected, saying that’s the sort of thing a person says about locking a set of keys in the car.
