WASHINGTON – A Maine resident was
charged in a criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of New Hampshire
for allegedly engaging in a type of cyber extortion known as “sextortion,”
announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas of the
District of New Hampshire.
John Bryan Villegas, 21, of Kittery, Maine,
was arrested yesterday and made his initial appearance today in federal court
in New Hampshire. Villegas is charged
with one count of engaging in computer intrusion involving extortion and one
count of making extortionate interstate threats.
The complaint affidavit alleges that Villegas
attempted to extort the victim, a New Hampshire resident, into providing him
with sexually explicit photographs and videos of the victim. He sent the victim interstate e-mail messages
in which he threatened to publish on the internet, and distribute to the
victim’s neighbors and work and social acquaintances, other sexually explicit
photographs of the victim that he obtained from a computer without
authorization.
If convicted, Villegas faces a maximum
sentence of two years in prison on the interstate threats charge and five years
in prison on the computer intrusion charge, to be followed by up to three years
of supervised release, a fine of up to $500,000 and restitution.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret
Service and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Computer
Crime and Intellectual Property Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal
Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen of the District of New
Hampshire. The Department would like to
thank the cooperation of the Dover, N.H., and Kittery, Maine, police
departments and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
The details contained in the complaint are
allegations. The defendant is presumed
to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a
court of law.
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