Man Charged With Extorting Girl Into Sending Him Sexual Content Over Snapchat

A man in Chicago has been charged with threatening and coercing a teenage girl into sending him sexually explicit images over Snapchat, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Ernesto Herrera allegedly received over 1,000 images from the 16-year-old girl, including several showing child pornography, through the popular social media app. The 33-year-old was arrested in June 2021 and has been held in jail since, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. “Mr. Herrera allegedly used social media to target, threaten and rob a child of their innocence,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement, adding that her office “will aggressively pursue those who prey on the vulnerable and helpless.” The Massachusetts girl was coerced and threatened into sending images of her having sex in June 2020, prosecutors said. They didn’t say how Herrera allegedly coerced the images from the girl or how they discovered the alleged behavior. It wasn’t immediately clear if Herrera had an attorney who could speak to the charges he faces, coercion and enticement of a minor, sexual exploitation of children and receiving child pornography. If convicted, he faces 10 years to life in prison for the coercion and enticement of a minor charge.…
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