Man Duped Underage Girl into Sending Him Explicit Images on Snapchat, Threatened to Release Them Unless They Had Sex

A man who threatened a minor to perform sex acts or else he would leak explicit pictures sent to him will spend nearly two decades behind bars, according to authorities.

On June 23, 2022, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in California announced the arrest of Conor Kerns, 19, in connection with the case.

An investigation started in July 2021 when the girl reported being duped into sending sexually explicit material to a man, later identified as Kerns, according to the sheriff’s office.

The victim sent Kerns nude images and videos via social media, according to the sheriff’s office. The defendant then threatened to leak the images unless she sent more.

Kerns then posed as a hacker and said he hacked into his own account, according to the sheriff’s office. As the hacker, he told the child to participate in sex acts with Kerns or he would release the images.

The minor agreed to meet with Kerns, and he extorted sex and more child porn from the victim, officials said.

Kerns was arrested and charged with 22 counts related to sexual assault and child porn. He was being held in jail on $1 million bond.

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Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko recently announced that Kerns was sentenced to 19 years in state prison for forcible rape, forcible oral copulation of a minor over 14, and forcible penetration of genital and anal opening of a child under 14 years old.

Kerns pleaded guilty in February 2024 to those charges as well as special allegations the victim was 14 years of age or older, victim was vulnerable and violent sex offenses.