Man Sentenced To 139 Years In Prison For "Sextortion"

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A Hialeah man who tricked young boys into sending him sexually explicit pictures of themselves by posing as a young girl online has been sentenced to 139 years in prison.

"The lengthy sentence handed down today (Thursday) sends a message to those who use the Internet to target and extort children through sexual exploitation ("sextortion") and pornographic offenses" stated U.S. Attorney Ferrer. "We implore the community to protect our children by being vigilant and reporting all suspected offenses to law enforcement."

Last July, 22-year old Patrick Killen Jr. was convicted on more than a dozed charges related to possession and distribution of child pornography.

According to the court records, beginning as early as November of 2012, Killen created phony social media accounts in which he portrayed himself as teenage girls using pictures he stole from Facebook and Instagram.

Killen would then engage teenage boys, generally between 11 and 14 years of age, in conversation using internet chat applications such as Kik and Omegle. Over the course of these conversations Killen would beg and cajole the boys into sending him sexually explicit pictures of themselves.

Hundreds of teen boys sent Killen sexually explicit pictures, according to court records. When they began to have second thoughts about sending him additional pictures, Killen would reportedly blackmail them by threatening to post the pictures they had already sent on social media sites and Instagram.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Killen collected and traded the pictures and videos with others around the world using peer-to-peer file sharing programs.