A man from southern Illinois who admitted to using blackmail to obtain nude pictures of about 100 girls and women has been sentenced to 35 years in prison by a U.S. District Court.
Joshua P. Breckel of Mascoutah was accused in court of using social media to obtain sexually explicit images and videos from girls as young as 10 throughout the U.S. He allegedly engaged in the activity from 2016 until his arrest on July 2018, Post reports.
According to prosecutors, the 21-year-old Breckel persuaded them to send the nude photos by feigning a romantic interest in them, offering them money or threatening them.
Among his victims were three 15-year-old girls from California, Pennsylvania and Illinois; a 12-year-old girl from Illinois; and a 10-year-old girl from Ohio.
Breckel admitted he threatened to kill the Ohio girl if she didn’t send him naked pictures of herself.
