ATLANTA — Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice say a University of Georgia student has been charged with cyberstalking and may have more victims.
Gary Leach, 23, was arrested and charged with one count of cyberstalking and one count of extortion through interstate threats. Leach will appear in federal court in Middle Georgia Friday afternoon.
Officials said that Leach extorted a Massachusetts woman for videos, photos and communications of a sexual nature for more than a year and a half.
According to the charging documents, beginning in October 2019, Leach obtained private video calls and photographs of a sexual nature from the victim that he said he would pay here for. Leach then allegedly threatened to share the recordings with the victim’s family if she didn’t continue to send him sexual content over Instagram.
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Authorities said he also repeatedly harassed and extorted the victim for additional interactions of a “sexually explicit and degrading nature.”
Leach used anonymous Instagram accounts to contact and harass the victim, authorities said.
While taking to the victim, Leach told her that he had done similar things to other Instagram users, telling her at one point, “Sweetheart I have hundreds of vids and thousands of pictures meticulously categorized by name.”
Leach allegedly told the victim that some of these women also did not know that they had been recorded.
Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim is asked to click HERE.
Cyberstalking carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
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