MoCo Man Sentenced For 'Sextortion' Of Over 100 Girls

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Chase William Mulligan, a 28-year-old man from Silver Spring, was sentenced on Tuesday to 50 years in prison for coercing more than 100 girls to send him sexually explicit images and videos.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland detailed in a release that Mulligan was sentenced on two counts of producing child sexual abuse materials. In addition to the 50 years in federal prison, Mulligan is also facing 25 years of supervised release.

Mulligan pleaded guilty to both counts as part of a plea deal agreement in May that also required him to register as a sex offender.

Mulligan's operation saw him engage with girls between the ages of five and 17 on social media and online chat rooms like Discord, Skype or Omegle.

Investigators determined that from 2019 to 2023, he coerced at least 108 girls to send him graphic content, and that he threatened to publish the images publicly when they said they no longer wanted to participate.

Officials said Mulligan's operation was not restricted to just girls who lived in the U.S. In fact, many of the girls lived in the U.K., Australia, Spain, Canada, Denmark, and the Philippines.

“Chase Mulligan is a depraved and dangerous predator. He used social media to target, viciously threaten, and horribly abuse more than 100 minor victims – one as young as five years old,” William DelBagno, the special FBI agent in charge, said in a release announcing the May plea deal.

“His abhorrent behavior is not diminished by the fact he was thousands of miles away and never met his victims, rather, it’s the opposite. Despite his distance, he presents a serious threat to any child he can access through the internet."

The 5-year-old girl mentioned by DelBagno is tied to a case in Tennessee, where Mulligan coerced two 15-year-old friends to send him videos over Snapchat.

The case makes up part of the nationwide Project Safe Childhood initiative that was started by the Justice Department in 2006.