Online Threats, Extortion Of Fairfax HS Student Under Investigation

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Online harassment and threats to publish nude photos of a student at Fairfax High School are being investigated by City of Fairfax Police, according to court records.

On Jan. 31, the 18-year-old reported to police that she had shared explicit photos with someone called "Rango" over social media, primarily via Instagram, court records said.

The victim first met and started talking to Rango on the Purp app on Oct. 23, 2023. The two continued to meet on Purp, but the conversation moved over to Snapchat. It was that app on which the victim first posted a nude photo "for attention," court documents said.

On Nov. 12, 2023, the conversation moved to Instagram, where Rango requested more photos and threatened to post the teen's information and photos online if she failed to comply. The suspect also asked for the login information for all of her social media — GMail, Snapchat, Instagram and Discord.

Over the next couple of months, the victim would communicate with Rango by posting a message on Instagram and then sign out. Rango would then sign into the account to respond. The victim told police she would receive notifications from various platforms of someone attempting to sign in to her account in Saudi Arabia.

The victim told police that Rango made her "send pics so that I would not get leaked." He also used her Snapchat account to recruit other girls or ask the victim to recruit others, according to court documents. The Snapchat account was eventually banned.

From Dec. 4, 2023, to mid-January 2024, the two would communicate periodically, with the victim sending Rango more photos. Then on Jan. 17, Rango's Instagram account was banned. The last time he contacted the victim was on Feb. 3 via Discord.

The victim told investigators that she was aware of other girls 18 and older that Rango had recruited, as well as minors. She was also aware of another victim on Instagram who was under 18.

Investigators obtained permission from the victim to access her iPhone. Reviewing the phone's data, they found numerous threats from Rango that he would release the victim's photos to her family and friends if she didn't respond to his requests.