A New Hampshire man is facing computer hacking and cyberstalking charges in an alleged "sextortion" scheme that targeted young girls.
Ryan J. Vallee, 21, of Franklin, was indicted on 10 counts of making interstate threats, two counts of computer hacking to steal information, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and seven counts of identity theft, according to authorities. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance at 4:30 p.m. Friday in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire.
Prosecutors say Vallee remotely hacked into the social media, email and online shopping accounts of almost a dozen young girls and threatened to delete, deface and make purchases from the accounts unless the victims sent him sexually explicit photos of themselves.
According to court documents, from 2012 through November of 2013, Vallee used various aliases, including "Seth Williams" and "James McRow" to engage in a computer hacking and "sextortion" campaign aimed at coercing juvenile females to provide him with sexually explicit photographs.
He allegedly hacked into and took control of the girls' email, Facebook and Instagram accounts, threatened to delete them, and in some cases defaced the contents of the accounts. He also hacked into their Amazon.com accounts and used their stored payment information and shipping addresses to order items of a sexual nature and have them shipped to the girls' homes. He also allegedly obtained sexually explicit photographs of the girls and their friends and distributed them to others.
Vallee allegedly threatened to continue his attacks unless the victims provided sexually explicit images of themselves. If they still refused to comply, he responded with threats to inflict additional harm.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, with assistance from police in Belmont, New Hampshire.
