The U.S. Attorney's Office has accused a 43-year-old man from Brentwood of pretending to be a teenage girl on social networking sites in order to befriend other teens and then tricking and extorting them into sending him pornographic images of themselves. He has been charged with extortion of child pornography, which the government has termed "sextortion."

The man was arraigned today at the U.S. District Court in downtown Pittsburgh. He was released on an unsecured $50,000 bond with restrictions on his restrictions. He is prohibited from using a computer, accessing the Internet, or using a cell phone with Internet access. He agreed to meet with a psychologist and will have to stay at his father's house, which will be subject to police searches.

The man has been employed for 20 years as a project management engineer with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and the judge did not prohibit him from returning to his job. However, his criminal defense lawyer suspects he will not be returning to his job. Guilty or innocent, those accused of sex offenses often find that the stigma attached to such offenses, and child pornography offenses in particular, can destroy a reputation long before trial.

Ross Township Police worked with the FBI to investigate the man's alleged activities. Law enforcement claims that the man posed as a teen girl in order to infiltrate a clique of other teenagers. After gaining the trust of the group, he learned about the teens' activities and then persuaded some of the girls to send him pornographic photos of themselves. Once he had a few photos, the FBI asserts, he would threaten to release the photos unless the teen girls sent him more. He would also trade pornographic pictures of teen girls with boys in the group, the FBI claims.

Police warn parents to closely monitor teens' online to prevent 'sexting' and the sending of nude photos

According to a 2009 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only four percent of teens surveyed admitted to sending explicit photos of themselves to others, but 15 percent said they had received such photos. This is often because a teen sends a sexy photo to a boyfriend or girlfriend, which is supposed to be kept private. Once the couple breaks up, however, the photos are sometimes sent to others -- who then forward it.

"Once the image leaves the relationship, it's not just being seen by one or two other people," explains a Pew Project researcher, "it's being seen by 300 or 400 other people."

Only a very small percentage of the time does "sexting" lead to "sextortion." While police urge parents to monitor all their children's online activities closely, the Pew Project researcher said that the "very elaborate scheme" of child pornography extortion envisioned by law enforcement in this case would be hard for even the most vigilant parent to detect.

Sources: