INDIANAPOLIS - The nightmare began with a party: three teenagegirls with a webcam, visiting an Internet chatroom and yielding torequests to flash their breasts.
A week later, one of the girls, a 17-year-old from Indiana,started getting threatening e-mails. A stranger said he had capturedher image on the webcam and would post the pictures to her MySpacefriends unless she posed for more explicit pictures and videos forhim. On at least two occasions, the teen did what her blackmailerdemanded. Finally, police and federal authorities became involvedand indicted a 19-year-old Maryland man in June on charges of sexualexploitation.
Federal prosecutors and child safety advocates say they're seeingan upswing in such cases of online sexual extortion. They say teenswho text nude cell phone photos of themselves or show off theirbodies on the Internet are being contacted by pornographers whothreaten to expose their behavior to friends and family unless theypose for more explicit porn, creating a vicious cycle ofexploitation.
One federal affidavit includes a special term for the crime:"sextortion."
No one currently tracks the numbers of cases involving onlinesexual extortion in state and federal courts, but prosecutors andothers point toward several recent high-profile examples victimizingteens in a dozen states:
* In Alabama, Jonathan Vance, 24, of Auburn was sentenced to 18years in prison in April after he admitted sending threatening e-mails on Facebook and MySpace extorting nude photos from more than50 young women in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Missouri.
* In Wisconsin, Anthony Stancl, 18, received 15 years in prisonin February after prosecutors said he posed as a girl on Facebook totrick male high school classmates into sending him nude cell phonephotos, which he then used to extort them for sex.
* A 31-year-old California man was arrested in June on extortioncharges after authorities said he hacked into more than 200computers and threatened to expose nude photos he found unless theirowners posed for more sexually explicit videos. Forty-four of thevictims were juveniles, authorities said. Federal prosecutors saidhe was even able to remotely activate some victims' webcams withouttheir knowledge and record them undressing or having sex.
The cases have prompted law enforcement officials and advocatesto caution teens about their activities. Privacy is nonexistent onthe Internet, and once indiscretions appear online, they arevirtually impossible to take back. A nude photo sent to aboyfriend's cell phone can easily be circulated through cell phonecontacts and wind up on websites that post sexting photos. Oncethere, it's available for anyone who wants to trace it back to theperson who made it.
"Kids are putting their head in the lion's mouth every time theydo this," said Parry Aftab, an attorney and online child safetyadvocate.
Teens can be more vulnerable to blackmail because they're easy tointimidate and embarrassed to seek help. And the extortionists areoften willing to make good on their threats, said Steve DeBrota, anassistant U.S. attorney in Indianapolis who has been involved insextortion investigations.
"You are blackmailable," said Aftab, " ... and you will doanything to keep those pictures from getting out."
In the Indiana case, the teenage girl's mother called police whenshe found out about the threats. Authorities subpoenaed Internetservice providers to track the chats and e-mails to their source, acomputer in Mechanicsville, Md., according to court documents.
According to court documents, the computer's owner, Trevor Shea,told agents he had engaged in similar schemes with about 10 girls,most of them 17 or 18 years old.
His trial is set for Aug. 30. He has pleaded not guilty and hisattorney, Michael Donahoe, said he is working on a possiblesettlement.
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