Father catfishes daughter into sending nude photos online

A New York man is in custody and faces up to 250 years in prison on child pornography charges after catfishing his own daughter into sending him a series of nude photos. The daughter, whose name has been withheld in order to protect her privacy, had been led to believe she was communicating with a teenaged boy. (The father’s name has also been withheld, since publishing it would identify the daughter.)

According to a codified report by Death And Taxes, the father catfishes daughter story began in Ilion NY, where, in 2013, a 41-year-old-man posed as a 16-year-old boy from a nearby town on “Instagram, AOL, and a texting app,” and contacted his daughter via those methods. Shortly thereafter, the “boyfriend” began pressuring his “girlfriend” to send him nude photos–which she eventually did, over a period of a few months, before breaking up with him.

At that point, that the girl’s father changed tactics, using blackmail to gain further nude photos. “I tell u what,” the “boyfriend” wrote, via text. “u want to me gone then send me nudes and close ups and I will let u go.”

Responded the 14-year-old girl, “No. I’m not going to do that. That’s another reason I’m leaving. All you talk about is sex sex and more sex. Honestly that is not what a relationship is about.”

“Then,” said the “boyfriend,” “I will send [the photos you’ve already given me] to your dad and then I won’t have to worry about anyone else having u.”

Apparently, the ploy didn’t work–so the girl’s father instead sent her yet another text message, from another different account, pretending to be the fictional boyfriend’s mother. The “mother” told the 14-year-old girl that her supposed boyfriend had committed suicide.

Following that lie, the father confronted his daughter with her own nude photos, claiming that the supposed boyfriend had sent them to him before killing himself. The father then sexually abused his daughter for a full year, and was only caught when the daughter broke down and told her school nurse what was happening at home.

According to Syracuse.com, the man has been found guilty on twelve counts of sending and receiving child pornography, as well as of enticing a child to produce pornography. He will be sentenced in July.

(Photo credits: Father catfishes daughter via Esther Vargas, Jannis Andrija Schnitzer on Flickr; hat tip to Death And Taxes)