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FBI
Sextortion
Help Us Locate Additional Victims of an Online Predator
07/07/15
Ashley Reynolds was a happy 14-year-old who loved sports, did well in
school academically and socially, and enjoyed keeping a journal she
intended her “future self” to read. But what happened in the summer of
2009 was so devastating that she couldn’t bring herself to record it in
her diary—or speak about it to anyone.
She had become the victim of sextortion, a growing Internet crime in
which young girls and boys are often targeted. Her life was being
turned upside down by an online predator who took advantage of her
youth and vulnerability to terrorize her by demanding that she send him
sexually explicit images of herself.
After several months, Ashley’s parents discovered what was happening
and contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
(NCMEC). Ashley and her parents later supported the FBI investigation
that led to the arrest of 26-year-old Lucas Michael Chansler, who last
year pled guilty to multiple counts of child pornography production and
was sent to prison for 105 years—but not before he used the Internet to
victimize nearly 350 teenage girls. The majority of those youngsters
have not yet been identified.
That’s why the FBI is requesting the public’s help—and why Ashley has
come forward to tell her story—so that Chansler’s victims can be
located and will know, as Special Agent Larry Meyer said, “that this
dark period of their lives is over.”
Meyer, a veteran agent in the FBI’s Jacksonville Division who
investigates crimes against children, explained that 109 of Chansler’s
victims have been identified and contacted so far, leaving
approximately 250 teens “who have not had closure and who probably
haven’t obtained counseling and other help they might need.” He noted
that Ashley is a brave person with a supportive family “and has been
able to use this experience to make her stronger.” Unfortunately, that
has not been the case for all the girls, some of whom have dropped out
of school and tried to end their lives.
Chansler, who was studying to become a pharmacist, used multiple
personas and dozens of fake screen names—such as “HELLOthere” and
“goodlookingguy313”—to dupe girls from 26 U.S. states, Canada, and the
United Kingdom. And he used sophisticated techniques to keep anyone
from learning his true identity.
Pretending to be 15-year-old boys—all handsome and all involved in
skateboarding—he trolled popular online hangouts to strike up
relationships with teenage girls. In one instance on Stickam, a
now-defunct live-streaming video website, evidence seized from his
computer showed four girls all exposing their breasts. “The girls are
apparently having a sleepover, and Chansler contacted one of them
through a random online chat,” Meyer said. “These girls thought they
were having a video chat session with a 15-year-old boy that they would
never see or hear from again, so they are all exposing themselves, not
realizing that he is doing a screen capture and then he’s coming back
later—very often in a different persona—saying, ‘Hey I’ve got these
pictures of you, and if you don’t want these sent to all your Myspace
friends or posted on the Internet, you are going to do all of these
naked poses for me.’”
Don’t Become a Victim of Sextortion
Special Agent Larry Meyer and other investigators experienced in online
child sexual exploitation cases offer these simple tips for young
people who might think that sextortion could never happen to them:
- Whatever you are told online may not be true, which means the person
you think you are talking to may not be the person you really are
talking to.
- Don’t send pictures to strangers. Don’t post any pictures of yourself
online that you wouldn’t show to your grandmother. “If you only
remember that,” Meyer said, “you are probably going to be safe.”
- If you are being targeted by an online predator, tell someone. If you
feel you can’t talk to a parent, tell a trusted teacher or counselor.
You can also call the FBI, the local police, or the National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline.
- You might be afraid or embarrassed to talk with your parents, but
most likely they will understand. “One of the common denominators in
the Chansler case,” Meyer noted, “was that parents wished their
daughters had told them sooner. They were very understanding and
sympathetic. They realized their child was being victimized.”
“It went from what would be relatively benign pictures to fulfilling
Chansler’s perverted desires,” Meyer said, adding that while adults
know that a young person’s life is only beginning in high school, “to a
13- or 14-year-old girl, thinking that all her friends or her parents
might see a picture of her exposing her breasts, the fear was enough to
make them comply with Chansler’s demands, believing they had no better
options.”
When FBI agents interviewed Chansler after his arrest, they asked why
he selected that age group. “One of the comments he made,” Meyer said,
“was that older girls wouldn’t fall for his ploy.”
Ashley fell for Chansler’s ploy in late 2008 when she was 14 years old.
She was contacted online by someone who claimed to be a teenage boy
with embarrassing sexual pictures of her. His screen name was
CaptainObvious, and he threatened to send Ashley’s pictures to all her
Myspace friends if she didn’t send him a topless image of herself.
Without considering the consequences, she sent it. She didn’t think the
boy knew who she was or anything else about her. Nothing more happened
until the summer of 2009, when Chansler’s persona messaged again,
threatening to post her topless picture on the Internet if she didn’t
send him more explicit images.
She ignored him at first, but then he texted her on her cell phone. He
knew her phone number and presumably where she lived. Somehow he must
have hacked information from her social media pages. Chansler was
relentless. He badgered her for pictures and continued to threaten. The
thought of her reputation being ruined—and disappointing her
parents—made Ashley finally give in to her tormenter.
The next few months were a nightmare as Ashley complied with Chansler’s
demands. She was trapped and felt she couldn’t talk to anyone. She kept
thinking if she sent more pictures, the monster at the other end of the
computer would finally leave her alone. But it only got worse—until the
day her mother discovered the images on her computer.
“I just remember breaking down and crying, trying to get my dad not to
call the police,” Ashley said, “because I knew that I would end up in
jail or something because I complied and I sent him the pictures even
though I didn’t want to. I tried to think rationally, like this guy was
threatening me. But I sent him the pictures, so that’s breaking the
law, isn’t it? I am under age and I am sending him naked pictures of
me. I didn’t want to go to jail.”
Still, she was relieved that she didn’t have to keep her secret any
longer. And her parents were supportive.
Ashley’s mother did some research and contacted the NCMEC’s
CyberTipline. An analyst researching the case was able to tie one of
the screen names used to sextort Ashley to another case in a different
state and realized the predator most likely had multiple victims.
Eventually, FBI and NCMEC analysts were able to pinpoint an Internet
account in Florida where the threats were originating, and that
information was passed to FBI agents who work closely with NCMEC in
child exploitation investigations.
When investigators executed a search warrant at Chansler’s Jacksonville
house and examined his computer, they found thousands of images and
videos of child pornography. They also found folders labeled “Done” and
“Prospects” that contained detailed information about the nearly 350
teens he had extorted online.
Meyer and the Jacksonville Crimes Against Children Task Force analyzed
the images of the girls to identify and locate them. One victim was
located through a picture of her and her friends standing in front of a
plate glass window at their school. Reflected in the glass was the name
of the school, which led to her identification. Another victim was
found through a radio station banner seen in a video hanging on her
bedroom wall. The station’s call letters led to a city and, eventually,
to the victim. More than 250 investigators, analysts, victim
specialists, child forensic interviewers, and community child advocacy
centers were involved in locating and interviewing the known victims.
But approximately 250 victims are still unidentified and may have no
idea that Chansler was arrested and sent to jail.
“It’s important that we find these girls so that they don’t have to be
looking over their shoulder, wondering if this guy is still out there
and is he looking for them and is he going to be coming back,” Meyer
explained, adding that “some of these girls, now young women, need
assistance. Many probably have never told anyone what they went
through.”
Ashley, now 20, is doing what she can to get the word out about
sextortion so that all of Chansler’s victims can be identified and
other girls don’t make the mistakes that she made. “This ended for me,”
she said, but for many of Chansler’s victims, “this never ended for
them.”
When Meyer began working crimes against children cases eight years ago,
he visited freshman and sophomore high school classes to talk about
Internet safety. “Now,” he said, “we are going to fourth and fifth
grade because kids are getting on the Internet at younger ages.”
He added, “We know that youngsters don’t always make sound decisions.
Today, with a smartphone or digital camera, an individual can take an
inappropriate picture of themselves and 10 seconds later have it sent
to someone. Once that picture is gone,” he said, “you lose all control
over it, and what took 10 seconds can cause a lifetime of regret.”
For her part, Ashley hopes that talking about what she went through
will resonate with young girls. “If it hits close to home, maybe they
will understand. High school girls never think it will happen to them,”
she said. “I never thought this would happen to me, but it did.”
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