Prisoner plot to murder Justin Bieber foiled by U.S. authorities

A plot by a New Mexico inmate to kill Canadian pop star Justin Bieber has been foiled by New Mexico police. The inmate, Dana Martin, is obsessed with the 18-year-old star and police believe he talked others into carrying his plan out to gain notoriety.

The story gets a bit convoluted but it connects and much of it comes from Lt. Robert McDonald of the New Mexico State Police, who informed media outlets in that state about the foiled plot. The details have been reported in the Toronto Star and other publications. Macabre plot against Justin Bieber Martin, 45, is serving a 978 year prison term in New Mexico for raping and killing a 15-year-old girl in Vermont in 2000, and while there he met Mark Aaron Staake, 41. Staake was in jail for drug and burglary offenses. With fabricated promises of rewards, Martin convinced Staake, due to get out of prison, to kill two witnesses in his case in Vermont and then go on to New York and kill Bieber and his bodyguards at one of two concerts he played there in November. The plot included specific tortures and other unsavory elements, including castration. Staake enlisted his nephew, Tanner Ruane, 23, and on November 19th the two actually set off to fulfill their evil plans. They missed a turn-off in Vermont, however, and wound up heading for the Canadian border; still on the American side, at Highgate Springs, they were pulled over and U.S. border guards arrested Staake on outstanding warrant charges in New Mexico. Border guards kept Staake and released Ruane. Ruane then drove toward New York but having second thoughts about pulling the scheme off on his own, he called Martin at his prison near Las Cruces back in New Mexico and on two occasions they discussed details of the murder plot; each time the calls were recorded by the prison and that lead to the unraveling of the bizarre plot and Ruane being arrested. Martin, said to have a Bieber tattoo on his leg and to have written letters to him, soonafter confessed. Justin Bieber on 'Believe' tour Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, released a statement to U.S. Weekly that did not refer specifically to the plot but simply said they take "every precaution to protect and ensure the safety of Justin and his fans." Bieber's current 'Believe' tour, in support of his album of the same name, has taken a break for the holidays and resumes in January.