As sextortion cases rise, the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office released information regarding the act, including means to avoid incidents and respond to reports, for
Internet Safety Month this June.
Lt. Dan Roudebush and Detective Jon Greiner form the detective duo of the Sheriff’s Office tasked with addressing cases of sextortion, property crimes, financial crimes, fraud and crimes against children. The duo stated in a 2023 interview regarding the safety of children on the internet that a vast majority of cases they cover deal with minors, and they have investigated around 15 sextortion cases this year alone. Sextortion refers to the act of extorting money or sexual favors from another person by threatening to expose content of them displaying sexual activity.
“The problem with sextortion is there’s no Indiana law against it technically,” Greiner said. “The law that we’re using for prosecutorial is the Indiana Code of Intimidation. There is a big push. Laws take a while to get changed. We’re always behind on these things, but I do foresee in the next couple years that there will be strictly an IC Code dedicated to sextortion just because it’s becoming a growing problem in law enforcement, not just at a local level but at the state and national level as well.”
Roudebush stated that the nation has experienced a sharp rise in case numbers, and the county has not been an exception. The duo has investigated four active cases at one time recently, and the FBI has reported just over a 200% increase in national sextortion cases with around 16,000 cases being investigated by the agency in 2021. Greiner stated that cases of sextortion range in the demographics of those affected, but he stated that most cases involve minors, especially teenagers.
“This does really affect everybody, and there’s no socioeconomic barrier that this doesn’t really affect,” Greiner said. “In some aspects when it comes to the financial stuff, they’re going after more of the middle class people because they have the money to pay.”
Up until recently, the financial extortions tended to be elicited by people and groups outside of the United States while requests for pictures or sexual favors tended to be a stateside issue. However, Roudebush stated that the duo has experienced exceptions to the typical framework, such as a current case involving an adult in Lafayette extorting a minor in Clinton County for money.
“The motivation for it can be different,” Roudebush said. “It’s not always money. It could be that they are trying to elicit more pictures. It could be that they are trying to elicit some kind of sexual favors. It could be the result of a relationship that has gone bad and that person either wants to re-engage in that or they are trying to cause that person harm to their reputation. Of course, we still have the financial.”
The duo stated that national statistics have revealed that around 5% of minors have experienced some form of sextortion, with a higher rate being assigned to teenagers. Roudebush stated that the schemes have evolved through the years, initially being solved by paying the extorter the money for the pictures to be deleted. However, Roudebush stated that the extorters have begun posting the content regardless of the receipt of money or increasing the price to squash the threats with no resolution until the victim can no longer afford to comply with the threats. The duo has also seen a shift where the extorters will contact parents and grandparents to extort money from them, typically alongside attempting to extort the minor or as a threat to the minor to pay.
“That is becoming problematic because generally it was considered just between the two parties, but now they’re starting to branch out and go after other family members,” Greiner said. “At the end of the day, grandma’s going to pay some money to not have the pictures posted.”
The Sheriff’s Office is currently working with schools and local organizations to develop a plan to provide education on sextortion for minors as well as providing educational opportunities and resources for parents and guardians to better address the situation as it arises.
“There’s a certain level of shame or guilt I’d say qualifies or goes with this,” Greiner said. “The likelihood that you know somebody that’s been extorted is probably pretty high, but the likelihood that they’ve told you about it is pretty low.”
Roudebush encouraged those affected by sextortion threats to avoid deleting evidence as many forms of virtual evidence have a shelf life, such as messages exchanged over Snapchat and similar applications. Roudebush stated that the first actions by those affected should be to stop responding and report the incident to authorities. Those affected may contact local authorities or contact the FBI directly through its hotline at 1-800-948-5000.
“If this starts happening, don’t respond to the person anymore,” Greiner said. “Don’t respond to them. Contact us. Let us start an investigation.”
Greiner stated that improper handling of situations by those affected and parents or guardians could cause tragic consequences. Greiner cited a case that sparked the increased focus on sextortion, which occurred in 2022 and involved Ryan Last, 17. Last was a straight-A student with a promising future in the biotechnology field before he received messages attempting to extort him and threatening him. Within an hour after receiving the threats, Last took his life.
“He sent a couple of bad pictures, and within 30 minutes, the people started extorting him for money,” Greiner said. “Within I think 30 or 45 minutes, he committed suicide, and his parents never even knew he got extorted before he killed himself. I’m not aware of any in our county, but there have been quite a bit nationally and even in the state of Indiana that have committed suicide over this, and generally it’s in that high school age frame.”
Greiner encouraged families to contact the Sheriff’s Office with information regarding sextortion cases as the team can utilize partnerships and tools to address the cases in a timely manner. Greiner highlighted an initiative with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that works with major electronic service providers for a program titled “Take it Down.” Images may be submitted to the companies involved in the program and flagged, and if the images appear on the websites, they will be flagged for investigation, removed from the site and the account will be terminated.