A Philadelphia area high school senior has been arrested after police say he used an online identity to solicit nude photos from teenage boys on a local and national level, and then using those photos to exploit them.
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Derrick Jones, 18, is a senior at Monsignor Bonner Catholic High School in Upper Darby, PA, says NBC-10.
Jones’ operation was allegedly based on a persona he created using photos copied from a strangers’ Tumblr page. Assuming the name “Haley,” he created accounts on Instagram, Kik, WeChat and Snapchat.
Then, he started luring victims, at least 130, according to police. Just 60 have been identified as local students, though some are quite young — even middle school students were caught up. Jones then used nude photos he’d solicited from victims to gather more, threatening to post them publicly. In at least one case, police say he contacted the family of the victim and harassed them.
Police expect the number of victims to go up as they continue the investigation. They claim Jones continued to add to his victim count even after authorities contacted him.
Jones has been arrainged on “dozens” of charges, according to NBC, but is out on $5000 bail. Some of those charges include felony child pornography charges.
He also faces expulsion from school.