Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Peruvian National Residing in Panorama City Sentenced for Extorting Ex-Girlfriend Online for Nude Photographs


A Peruvian national was sentenced to six months in prison for demanding nude photographs and cash from a South American woman after she ended their online relationship, announced Steven Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, and André Birotte. Jr., United States Attorney in Los Angeles.

Jose Marcial Garcia-Hernandez, 43, a Peruvian national who last resided in Panorama City, was sentenced today to six months in prison by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright, II.

On December 7, 2011, Garcia-Hernandez was taken into custody at his residence in Panorama City and charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Garcia-Hernandez was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on December 20, 2011 with 48 counts of extortion. On February 15, 2012, Garcia-Hernandez pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion and admitted that he had sent a series of extortionate and threatening communications via the Internet to the victim, a Peruvian national residing in Peru. In those communications, sent from approximately September 2010 through January 2011, Garcia-Hernandez demanded that the victim continue posing nude for him via her webcam, and if she chose not to, he threatened to disseminate previously obtained nude images of the victim to the victim’s family and friends and to publicly post such images on the Internet. At one point, Garcia-Hernandez told the victim that she must pay him $2,000 if she wanted to stop communicating with and posing nude for him. Ultimately, Garcia-Hernandez carried out his threat and did send sexually explicit images of the victim to individuals with whom she was acquainted.

The FBI investigation was initiated when the victim reported the activity to the Peruvian National Police (PNP). Because the activity was initiated in Los Angeles, the PNP reported the activity to the FBI.

This case was investigated by the FBI in Los Angeles; the FBI’s Legal Attaché in Santiago, Chile; and the PNP.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

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