A Florida man was arrested after he allegedly cyber - stalked a 13-year-old Michigan girl for five years, using coercion, black mail and shame to get her to send him nude photos, the Lansing State Journal reported on Wednesday.
The girl received text messages and emails from strangers virtually nonstop over the five - year period, demanding that she send sexually explicit photos of herself or they would post nude photos they already had of her on pornographic websites.
Scared and not knowing where to turn, she complied with the demands, but suffered in silence. She pleaded with her harassers to stop and tried to take her own life twice. Her identity and home town have not been released by authorities.
The girl went to police with the harassment last month. She was pushed to the edge, and told one of her stalkers about it in an email on March 8.
"I don't understand why you can't leave me alone. I'm already in therapy, I've gone to psych hospital twice now for trying to commit suicide. Are you trying to kill me?"
A 26-year-old Tallahassee, Fla. man named Bruce Powell was apprehended after an electronic paper trail in the form of texts and emails led straight to him. He was arrested outside him apartment for cyberstalking and child pornography on Oct. 14. His last attempt to make contact with the girl came on Oct. 11, three days before his arrest.
"This is literally your last chance to answer me," Powell allegedly wrote in an Oct. 11 email to the girl. " You have 24 hours. I know where you are, I know where your family is, all will be exposed unless you answer."
According to court documents, the case began when the girl and a stranger, later identified as Powell, began talking online and she sent him sexually explicit photos of herself. She then started receiving threatening text messages from a second stranger in August 2008, when she was still 13, telling her that she had to send more photos or he'll post the ones he had online.
She complied with his demands, and this sequence continued every other day until October 2009, when the abuse briefly stopped. When she was a sophomore in high school, a third stranger contacted her demanding the same thing and using the same threats of humiliation.
Then came a bombshell: in April, the girl received a package of sex toys and other personal items at her home from a fourth stranger, saying that if she didn't take photos of her using the items, he would post everything he has online. When she didn't respond quickly enough, he posted 30 nude photos of her to PornHub.com, according to The Detroit News.
Authorities believe that the unidentified strangers were all Powell, setting up fake phone numbers and email accounts to extort the girl. Federal agents searched his email messages, and found 332 emails with pictures and videos of the Michigan teen.