A man who lured children through social media and forced them to send him sexual material has been sent to prison in the United States.
Jacob Blanco, from Fresno, California, used many tricks to manipulate children as young as six into taking inappropriate photos and sharing them with him.
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Using popular social media apps, such as Musical.ly (now TikTok), Kik and Snapchat, the 29-year-old perpetrator posed as a representative of a child modeling agency or pretended to be a minor himself.
Police discovered Blanco's illegal activity in March 2017, following a complaint filed by the parents of a six-year-old child. The parents notified authorities after discovering that their child had contacted another user on Musical.ly and sent sexual material at the request of that user.
The investigation led authorities to Blanco, who examined his residence and devices. The investigation revealed that the perpetrator had convinced and coerced numerous minors to create sexual material.
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In May 2020, Blanco pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of minors and receiving and distributing child sexual abuse material.
“Blanco admitted that he had contacted at least 50 minors and had received sexually explicit images from many of them,” the Justice Department said in a statement released on October 8.
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On Friday, Blanco was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Prosecutor Phillip Talbert said: "The fact that the defendant used social media to sexually exploit the victims serves as a reminder that the internet can be a dangerous place, especially for children."
Blanco's conviction comes a month after the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) urged TikTok to do more to protect minors using its platform.
Source: Infosecurity Magazine
