Houston Man Arrested for Sexual Exploitation of Children
A 23-year-old man from the Houston area has been arrested and federally charged with the sexual exploitation of children. Andrew Venegas allegedly obtained explicit images and videos of women throughout the United States, many of whom were minors, and used them for extortion. According to a criminal complaint, Venegas had been advertising his content online since at least the summer of 2022, specifically offering content depicting minors under the age of 18.
Law enforcement believes that Venegas was posting sexually explicit material on a website that offers unlawful intrusion into Snapchat accounts as a service. Numerous victims from across the country reported that their images or videos were posted on the same website without their permission, with some victims suspecting that their material had been taken from their Snapchat accounts without their consent.
According to the affidavit, over 1000 different females had their images posted on the website, often accompanied by their true names. Venegas allegedly utilized a watermark reading “TELEGRAM Starkylol” on his uploaded content. He is also accused of using a Telegram account to post and sell pictures and videos obtained through blackmail by forcing women to create or provide explicit images against their will.
The affidavit states that several victims discovered that their images or videos were posted after receiving threats from individuals who demanded additional explicit material. Failure to comply would result in the sharing of the images/videos with friends or family. Venegas eventually sold content to undercover law enforcement agents, leading to his arrest in Houston on Thursday.
Venegas is currently in custody and will face a preliminary examination and detention hearing on July 18 before Magistrate Judge Christina Bryan. As of now, he does not have an attorney listed.
The arrest of Venegas comes amidst a warning from the FBI and US Justice Department about the increase in financial sextortion schemes targeting minors. At least 3,000 minors, primarily boys, were targeted in 2022. Predators often use social media platforms to communicate with their victims before moving the conversation to a platform that primarily uses direct messaging. The victims are then tricked into providing explicit material and are subsequently threatened with the release of the images to their family and friends unless they pay large sums of money.
The FBI has advised victims of sextortion to report it to their local FBI field office. Additionally, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offers a service called Take It Down, which helps remove explicit photos and videos of underage individuals from certain online platforms.
This case serves as a reminder of the ongoing threat of sexual exploitation of children online and the importance of reporting such crimes to law enforcement agencies.
Original Story at www.cnn.com – 2023-07-16 02:02:00
Comments are closed.