Texas Man Sentenced In Online Sextortion Case

A Texas man was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for his role in a sophisticated online sextortion case involving 43 victims. Mark P. Barnwell, of Whitehouse, Texas, mostly targeted minor aged girls, located in nine judicial districts across eight states, including Illinois, the U.S. Secret Service said in a news release.

“Sextortion” is a used to describe a form of online exploitation where a predator obtains explicit photos of victims and threatens to publish them online if the victim does not comply with additional requests – typically additional explicit photos, sexual favors, or money, the Secret Service added.

"In this case, Barnwell, operating under fake profiles on Facebook, posed as a modeling agent offering girls an opportunity to take part in a modeling job that paid $500-$5000 for modeling shoots," the Secret Service added. "Under the guise of producing a modeling portfolio, Barnwell – a convicted sex offender, directed the victim’s poses which progressed from various stages of undress to sexually explicit. Once initial modeling photos were provided by the victims, Barnwell threatened to post the photos online if the victims did not continue to provide additional photos."

The investigation into the fake Facebook profiles revealed that Barnwell contacted at least 66 females and ultimately obtained nude photos from 43 minors in eight states. Evidence collected from devices owned by Barnwell included video relating to sexual exploitation of minors as well as videos where he surreptitiously filmed women using public restrooms.

To read more about what the Secret Service is doing to fight those who use cyberspace to commit crime click here.

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