Snapchat
Police have charged a 13-year-old Henrico County boy with randomly extorting underage girls online through Snapchat to provide him with explicit images of themselves, Henrico police announced Friday.
The boy, whose identity was not released because of his age, was charged with threat to extort and possession of child pornography for offenses that occurred in November and December of last year, Henrico police Lt. Matt Pecka said.
The boy allegedly targeted girls from whom he had obtained photos through Snapchat. Most were from the Richmond area, but the victims included girls from the Northern Neck spanning to Southwest Virginia, Pecka said. The number of victims was not immediately available.
Detectives learned that the boy would obtain explicit images and videos and threaten to “expose” the girls if they refused to submit additional compromising material of themselves or others, Pecka said.
The boy was identified after parents of some of the victims alerted police. He is in custody at a juvenile detention center.
Henrico police are urging anyone who believes they or someone they know — including teens and children — are victims of this type of criminal activity to come forward and speak with Detective S. VonCanon at (804) 347-1776.
