‘Sextortionist’ sentenced for coercing over 100 girls to make child porn
A young Atlanta-area man who was found guilty of coercing over 100 girls to take sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves has been sentenced.
Benjamin Jenkins, 25, dubbed a “prolific sextortionist,” has been sentenced to 40 years behind bars, officials from the Department of Justice said in a release Tuesday.
After serving time, Jenkins, of Mableton, about 15 miles northwest of Atlanta, will have a lifetime of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender.
“Jenkins exploited as many as 150 girls for his perverse satisfaction, causing unbelievable trauma to these children and their families,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said. “The sheer degradation and depravity that Jenkins forced his victims to endure is unimaginable. This sentence will hopefully help these courageous victims and their families heal.”
“These victims were trapped in a vicious cycle were trapped in a vicious cycle from which they could not escape,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations operations in both Georgia and Alabama.
Starting in 2015, Jenkins allegedly used aliases to contact girls aged 13 to 16, wherein he’d get them to send an explicit or sexually suggestive image of themselves, according to Pak, the charges, and information presented to the court.
Jenkins would allegedly then threaten to either post that girl’s photos online or send them to loved ones if she did not send him additional pictures within a certain amount of time.
He would allegedly instruct the victims on how to pose and what objects to insert into their genitals, as well as which body parts to show. He also made his victims send videos of them licking toilets or drinking their own urine.
He made good on the threats, sending said photo to the family members of a victim who blocked him. He demanded she get back in contact with him.
In January, Jenkins was found guilty of nine counts of producing child pornography and three counts of distributing child pornography.
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