(WXYZ) — A Florida man is now facing charges for an alleged sextortion scheme involving a 13-year-old girl in West Michigan.
Brandon Le is now facing charges out of Clinton County. The government fears the 21-year-old has many more victims. They released a list of Snapchat names they believe he has used over the years hoping more people come forward.
"The rapid rise of sextortion across Michigan, across the United States is a deeply disturbing trend," U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said.
Officials say Le contacted the girl using Snapchat on Aug. 10 and 11, 2019, and took the conversation to sexual topics, and then screenshotted that conversation. Feds say he threatened to post it with her name if she didn't send him sexually explicit photos and material.
Sextortion is when a person, typically a minor, sends an explicit photo of him or herself to a stranger and then that stranger in turn threatens to leak those photos unless given money or sexual favors.
According to the Department of Justice, 3000 U.S. minors were targeted in 2021. One of the victims was a 13-year-old girl from Grand Rapids. She was coerced into having a sexual conversation with a 21-year-old man from Florida back in 2019.
"He then took a screenshot of the sexual portion of that conversation and threatened to publicly post that conversation online," Totten said.
"We are 100 percent committed to using every tool we have to hold perpetrators accountable," Totten said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI are working to identify other victims from throughout the country that Le may have approached. It is believed that he used the name “Ty” and the other following usernames on various social media, messaging, and email accounts:
- addityyt
- tyaddinude
- tyaddibaby
- tycroneaddi
- tygrazittenudef
If you believe that you are a victim in this case, please visit the U.S. Department of Justice website or contact victim coordinator Kathy Shuette by calling 616-808-2034 or emailing kathy.schuette@usdoj.gov.
