North Dakota man sentenced to 32 years in federal prison in state’s first "sextortion" case

FARGO, N.D. — A southeastern North Dakota man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 32 years on multiple charges of child pornography and extortion, in the state’s first federal "sextortion" case.

This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), the North Dakota Internet Crimes against Children Task Force (ICAC) and the Wahpeton (North Dakota) Police Department.

Dustin Coleman, 22, of Wahpeton, North Dakota, was sentenced to 384 months in prison on three counts of producing child pornography, two counts of extorting sexually explicit images and videos from a child by threat of injury and damage to reputation, and three counts of possessing child pornography.  "Sextortion" involves the coercion of an individual to commit sexually explicit acts.

"The length of this sentence reflects how seriously law enforcement regards threats against children," said J. Michael Netherland, special agent in charge of HSI St. Paul. "HSI’s unique authorities and valuable law enforcement relationships have repeatedly proven there is no place a predator can hide. We will continue to work with our local, state and federal partners to pursue and arrest people like Coleman and place them where they belong, behinds bars and off our streets."

Beginning in early 2013 and continuing through the summer of that year, Coleman used Kik Messenger and Touch, free messaging applications for smartphones, to send threatening communications to young girls throughout the United States that he had previously identified via  social media such as Facebook. His intent was to extort sexually explicit images and videos from minor females. Using this information he extorted the victims into creating sexually explicit images of themselves for his personal use.

Coleman used several different online screen names, including the screen name "debt collector," to both intimidate the victims and conceal his identity and location when communicating with them.

After Coleman received the images, he continued to demand that they send him additional and increasingly graphic sexually explicit content. He also threatened the victims that if they did not comply with his demands he would injure their reputation by posting the content publicly. In at least one instance, he also threatened to sexually assault a girl’s prepubescent sister if she did not comply. Coleman continued this pattern of extortion until he was discovered by law enforcement via a tip from his former roommate.

On Aug. 26, 2013, Coleman’s former roommate reported to Wahpeton police that she had viewed child pornography depicting a 14-year-old minor, whom she knew, on Coleman’s computer. She took the computer to a Wahpeton police officer who turned it over to a BCI special agent for forensic examination. The BCI agent discovered hundreds of sexually explicit images of young girls that appeared to be self-produced.

The BCI agent was also able to recover chats logs, which were associated with these sexually explicit images and videos. Through these logs the agent discovered Coleman’s extortion scheme. In one of the logs a 13-year-old girl told Coleman she intended to take her own life to avoid having to give him additional material.

BCI and HSI special agents were able to quickly locate the girl via information found on Coleman’s computer. The victim further informed an HSI special agent that Coleman threatened to sexually assault her younger sister if she did not comply with his demands.

Coleman’s sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release and he must also pay an $800 special assessment to the Crime Victims Fund. There is no parole from the federal prison system.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,300 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.