Former Marine sentenced for cyberstalking young women in ‘sextortion’ campaign
(Gray News) - A California man was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for cyberstalking multiple young women in a “sextortion” campaign while he was an active-duty member of the U.S. Marine Corps.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 26-year-old Johao Miguel Chavarri, also known as Michael Frito, stalked and sent anonymous threatening communications to numerous victims from May 2019 to February 2021.
Authorities said Chavarri, a Torrance, California, resident, often used the name “Frito,” contacted victims on social media platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. He would comment on users’ appearance and suggest having a relationship in which he would pay the users to send him photos or videos.
According to the Justice Department, some people initially agreed to Chavarri’s requests and sent him nude, sexually explicit or compromising photos. But when some refused or stopped communicating with him online, Chavarri would harass, threaten and extort the users through numerous online accounts.
In most cases, he threatened to publish sexual photos and videos of the users online or on pornography websites and to their family, friends and employers.
Authorities said Chavarri was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and serve three years of supervised release.
The FBI Los Angeles Field Office, Long Beach Resident Agency, investigated the case with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
