Cobb man charged in alleged ‘sextortion’ of 100 girls’ photos online
Under usernames like “Sluttyrose123” and “Poetic Justice,” a Cobb County man allegedly got young girls to send him compromising photos of themselves and then extorted them with the pictures.
Federal prosecutors said Friday that Benjamin Jenkins, of Mableton, has been formally charged in his 2015 “sextortion” scheme involving more than 100 girls between the ages of 12 and 16.
To lure the girls, he would send them a pornographic photo and talk them into sending him a similar photo of themselves in return. And then he asked for more.
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Jenkins told the girls how to pose and asked them to “watch him masturbate,” said federal prosecutors in a press release.
If the girls refused, he threatened them with violence, posted the pictures on social media or sent them to the girl’s friends and family.
When girls blocked him, he made their pictures public.
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He once posted a embarrassing photo of a girl to her high school Twitter page. He also posted the nude photos of the girls online with contact information telling men to contact the girls directly for more photos.
Jenkins was indicted May 23 on 13 counts of producing child porn and five counts of distributing child porn, federal court records show.
A judge ordered that he remain in custody until his trial. Records do not show that a trial date has been set.
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Ben Brasch is the reporter tasked with keeping Fulton County government accountable. The Florida native moved to Atlanta for a job with The AJC. If there's something important to you going on in Fulton, he wants to know about it. Help him better metro Atlanta by dropping a line, anonymously or otherwise.
