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Diego Ramos, 19, of Blakeslee, PA used multiple Instagram accounts and other social media and messaging platforms to successfully coerce the Perth Amboy minor into send him sexually explicit images and videos beginning late this past May, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
He'd already gotten the victim to pay $12,982 to stop him from publicly releasing those images when he "threatened the victim with public exposure" if demands for additional photos and videos weren't met, Sellinger said.
Authorities got involved and earlier this week Ramos was in custody, he said.
Special agents of the FBI Newark Field Office's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force charged Ramos with sexual exploitation of a child and attempted enticement of a minor.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny Chung brought him before U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa, who ordered that Ramos remain detained after a brief hearing in Newark.
Sellinger credited special agents of the task force with the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked the FBI Philadelphia Office's Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory and police in Mount Pocono, PA, and Perth Amboy, NJ, for their assistance.
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