LOS ANGELES
A federal judge today sentenced Jeremy Brenden Sears, Moorpark, California, to 15 years in prison for producing child pornography in “extortion” case, officials said.
Sears used social networking websites to trick, extort or threaten more than a dozen male and female juveniles into sending him naked photos and videos, authorities stated.
Sears pleaded guilty in January to one count of production of child pornography as part of a plea agreement, officials said.
U.S.District Judge John F. Walter ordered that Sears to be on supervised released for the rest of his life.
This is Sears second sex-related arrest involving “sextortion,” according to authorities.
Sears was arrested by the Ventura Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force, which is made up of agents and officers with the FBI and Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, according to authorities.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office last year charged Sears for targeting a Ventura County teenage boy by claiming to be a teenage girl, encouraging the boy to send him naked images, and then insisting that they meet in a park so that he could take the boy to a non-existent girl.
A federal affidavit supporting Sears’ arrest states that he approached many of his victims after finding them active in social-networking groups for fans of music acts popular with young teenagers, such as Justin Bieber or One Direction.
Officials said Sears set up fake profiles on Facebook, Meetme, and other social networking websites that appeared to be from teenage boys and girls.
Sears allegedly used the bogus profiles to communicate with real-life teenagers, sometimes beginning online romantic relationships with the real-life teens and then encouraging them to send him sexually explicit videos and photos of themselves.
On other occasions, Sears threatened to harm the real-life teens or their loved-ones unless they sent him naked images.
In some cases, after receiving the images of the underage victims, Sears would distribute those images, along with the victims’ names and personal information, to other members of his online social networking groups or to publicly accessible websites.
In one case, Sears gained access to a victim’s Facebook account and posted naked photos of her on her own profile page, where they could be seen by her friends and schoolmates.
Once Sears had photos of a victim, he commonly used the threat of further harassment and distribution to extort more images.
The federal criminal complaint unsealed at Sears’ court appearance this afternoon charges him with two counts of producing child pornography, officials said.
According to the affidavit, Sears is also the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
Sears was arrested in Ventura County last year for extortion involving a teen. He released on bail in that case in August, but investigators recently determined that he continued to solicit and receive naked images from at least one teenager after that time, according to the affidavit.
Investigators believe that Sears victimized several dozen teenagers — many in Southern California, and some are believed to be overseas — but authorities have not identified all of the victims, authorities stated.