(KNSI) — A substitute teacher accused of tricking minors and a woman into sending him sexually explicit images of themselves and using the images to extort from the victims has pleaded guilty.
Federal investigators say 25-year-old Mitchell James Ottinger was involved in a sextortion scheme. Court documents say, Ottinger, using aliases and posing as a young woman online, created and used multiple Internet accounts to encourage and direct minors and an adult to produce sexually explicit images and videos of themselves and send them to him. If a victim later blocked or ignored him, he would contact them through the alias or other accounts and threaten to publish their sexually explicit images to others unless the victim met additional demands for sexually explicit images.
He was charged with two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography and two counts of making extortionate threats. He pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography and one count of interstate communication with intent to extort.
Ottinger of Carver was a substitute teacher and paraprofessional with an unidentified school district.
Law enforcement was alerted to the sextortion when one of the victims contacted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center and reported the threats. Authorities believe Ottinger had been doing this for several years before he was caught, and there may be additional victims that have not yet come forward. Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the FBI Minneapolis Division at 763-569-8000.
No sentencing date has been announced.
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