Florida man charged in sextortion case involving young Clinton County girl

GRAND RAPIDS − Federal officials said a "sextortion" case involving a victim from Clinton County is among a growing number of cases in which a perpetrator threatens to publish private or sensitive information about someone unless they provide sex or money.

Brandon Huu Le, 21, of Maitland, Florida, was indicted in November on charges of coercion and enticement of a minor, sexual exploitation of a child and receiving child pornography, court records show. Le made his first court appearance on Wednesday, officials said.

Authorities said Le contacted a 13-year-old girl from Clinton County over Snapchat in 2019, steered the conversation toward sex topics and then threatened to post a screenshot online unless she provided him with sexually explicit material, U.S. Attorney Mark Totten told reporters during a virtual news conference Wednesday afternoon.

An attorney listed for Le in court records could not immediately be reached by the State Journal.

Officials suspect Le contacted "a significant number of other people" across the nation, "trying to do the same things we allege he did here," said Totten, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. He would like his office to hear from anyone who might have been contacted in such a scheme, he said.

Totten said the "rampant rise" in sextortion is "a very deeply disturbing trend."

James Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan, said his office has received 629 tips about sextortion from across the state over the past two years, including 483 in 2022 alone.

"The use of the internet to threaten and manipulate children into producing sexually explicit images, and then threatening to share or publish those images to get the victims to produce more is predatory conduct that is very harmful to minor victims," Tarasco said in a news release. "I commend the young victims who came forward to report Le's behavior."

Calling police is the "brave, first step toward holding these predators accountable for their actions," he said.

The indictment against Le claims he coerced the Clinton County girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct on Aug. 10 and Aug. 11, 2019. The document has been public since last November, but officials waited to announce the indictment until Wednesday, when Le made his first court appearance.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Townsend, who is prosecuting the case, said the charges resulted from "a fairly broad investigation" that required unraveling the identities of Le and potential victims.

Investigators are contending Le used the name "Ty" and various social media user names containing that name. Anyone who believes they might have been targeted in a sextortion case is asked to call the FBI or Kathy Schuette, victim coordinator for the justice department, at (616) 808-2034.

The FBI recommends people be selective about what they put online and be wary of any strangers who contact them, especially if they ask to move the conversation to a different social media platform.

Any suspicious behavior should be reported to the site administrator, officials said.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Florida man charged in sextortion case involving young Clinton County girl