Warning: This post contains details of child abuse
A Virginia Beach man, Justin Whichard, has admitted to his disturbing role in scaring kids into creating child porn.
This marks another sad and disturbing case in the rising wave of online sextortion crimes.
24-year-old, Whichard pleaded guilty to production of images of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, after he manipulated and threatened two 14-year-old girls in 2023.
According to WTKR News, he would first pretend to be a minor to build a fake romantic connection with his victims online.
After gaining their trust, he would then blackmail them, saying that he would report them to their parents if they didn’t create and send him explicit videos of themselves.
Criminal investigators later found over 200 illegal images and videos on Whichard’s phone.
They also found scripts that clearly explained what he wanted the victims to do—including telling them to say his name in the videos.
After getting the child pornography he forced the girls to make, he then sent them to an adult man and pretended to be the minor in the videos.
According to police reports, he then acted like a minor who was being exploited, and tried to extort the man, by demanding hundreds of dollars.
"He even created a script for them… It was almost as if he is the conductor of his criminal activity," said Richard James, a crime analyst.
After Whichard was arrested and released on bond, he ran away from Virginia.
However, he was later caught again in Tennessee in March 2024.
After this second arrest, police found two new images of child pornography on his phone.
The FBI has reported a sharp increase in sextortion cases, where predators threaten and coerce kids into sending explicit material.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) noted an 82% increase in such crimes in 2022 alone.
"Don't ever give in to somebody requesting more sexual videos or photos, because it will not stop there," warned Meredith Williams of Samaritan House crisis services.
Whichard is set to be sentenced in September 2024 in federal court, and he could face decades in prison.
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