19 Year Old Petaluma Man Arrested for Extortion and Child Pornography

11/07/2013

19 Year Old Petaluma Man Arrested for Extortion and Child Pornography

The NC3TF was contacted by Petaluma Police regarding an extortion and child pornography case they were investigating.   In this case two San Bernardino County girls, one 13 year old and the other 15met a 19 year old Petaluma man on-line and became Facebook friends.   The suspect had an on-line relationship with the 2 girls on and off for 6 to 7 months.   Early in their on-line relationship each girl agreed to send the suspect a naked photo of themselves. 

After the suspect received the first photograph from each girl he began demanding more naked photos.  When each girl refused to send another photograph he told them if they did not he would post the photos he already had on public web sites and send them to their families.  The girls out of fear continued to send more pictures.  One of the girls ultimately suffered from severe depression due to the situation and ended up in therapy.   It was during therapy that the crimes were revealed to the therapist. 

The suspect’s computer was seized by the Petaluma Police and a Forensic Examination for evidence was conducted by the NC3TF.   The Forensic examination revealed communication between the suspect and the 2 victims that confirmed their report of the incident.   Also, the photographs of the victims which had been deleted by the suspect were found on his computer. 

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