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Police: Teen Extorted Boys for Explicit Photos

MONROE COUNTY — A student in the Poconos is in trouble with the law after police said he made a fake Facebook account and had boys send him nude photos. T...
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MONROE COUNTY -- A student in the Poconos is in trouble with the law after police said he made a fake Facebook account and had boys send him nude photos.

The 14-year-old boy from the Tobyhanna area befriended hundreds of teens, many right in his own school, according to police.

After he convinced them to send inappropriate photos, investigators said he threatened to post those pictures online if they didn't keep sending more or paid him off.

These days, just about everyone has a Facebook account. It's the way many teens socialize.

Police said one student in the Pocono Mountain School District duped dozens of his peers, posing as a girl who wanted to trade explicit photos of herself.

"Again a lot of these victims believed they were speaking with a female, made some bad life choices by sending nude photographs of themselves," said Pocono Mountain Regional Police Chief Christopher Wagner.

Back in November a parent brought this case to the attention of a school resource officer in the Pocono Mountain School District, according to police who then started investigating, and found out there are 48 victims and counting.

"The suspect began to extort them, made threats if you don`t send me more nude photos I'll post the ones online you already sent me. Was asking for gift cards and things of that nature," added Chief Wagner, who added that police traced the account back to the 14-year-old boy.

Officers went to his home near Tobyhanna, seized electronics and even found pictures. Now that teen is facing charges as a juvenile.

Police said the boy contacted about 100 underage kids, most of them males, and the majority of them refused.

Still, some can't believe a teen went to such great lengths.

"I think people should be more careful with what they do online, because that doesn`t go away," said Emily Urso of Mount Pocono.

"You can't watch them, I don`t know. The way we were brought up, the way we`re brought up two different thing. We were outside playing and they`re inside playing video games," said Deidra Keys of Tobyhanna.

Police said they're still reaching out to find possible victims in this case.

Monroe County Detective Brian Webbe has seen a lot of internet crimes. He said the latest involving a teen using a fake Facebook account to trade nude photos then extort dozens of boys is a bit surprising.

"As far as the reach and the contact he had with as many people as he reached out to, it's a little more than we typically see," said Webbe.

Webbe helped with the investigation that started in November when a parent of a student at Pocono Mountain West Junior High School in Tobyhanna went to police and said his son was being extorted by who he thought was a girl his age.

Whoever was behind the account threatened the boy to send more pictures, or the explicit photos he had already sent would be posted online for everyone to see.

"Took some thought and planning and premeditation to get it accomplished," added Webbe.

Detectives tracked down the user from this account, which led them to a home in the Pocono Farms development as well as evidence that indicated it was a 14-year-old boy behind the whole thing.

People can't understand why anyone would do that let alone agree to send pictures in return.

"Who would even do that, don`t understand," questioned Urso.

"I' going to expose you if you don't, that's blackmail, it's not money, same difference," said Terry Dowd of Pocono Summit.

County detective Webbe said one way to prevent it is to know what your children are doing online, especially on their cell phones.

"If your kid's 14, he shouldn't be having too much privacy on the internet. His safety is paramount to any privacy concerns," he said.

The 14-year-old boy from the Tobyhanna area was taken into custody last week and faces charges in juvenile court.

He's been released to his parents.

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