A 16-year-old Washington State teenager is accused of sexually extorting his classmates and tricking them into sharing nude photos of themselves.
Authorities said the W. F. West High School student used numerous fake social media profiles to pose as a teen girl requesting images of male genitalia.
A year-long police and FBI investigation began when a Chehalis parent reported their child had been victimized online.
"He described himself as a predator. He said he knew what he was doing,” Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said.
Other victims came forward; a dozen of whom may be classmates of the suspect.
"He would use those pictures to get more pictures. If the kids refused, he would share those pictures that were shared with him to others,” Meyer said.
The boy now faces three charges.
"We were notified that a student was arrested following an FBI investigation. And so that's when the shock actually hit. And we began to find out how large an issue this was,” Chehalis Schools superintendent Ed Rothlin said.
The FBI's report says the boy admitted to having hundreds of victims and more than 900 explicit images.
"These photos are out there. We don't know how far it's been spread, we don't know how many people have seen these images,” Meyer said.
The boy is being held in juvenile custody, but the prosecutor is asking for the case to be moved to adult court.
That hearing is set for Oct. 24.
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