(KNSI) – A substitute teacher is accused of tricking minors and a woman into sending him sexually explicit images of themselves and using the images to extort from the victims.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mitchell James Ottinger, of Carver, was arrested Tuesday on charges of production of child pornography-related to sextortion and threats of extortion.
A detention and preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 7, 2021, at 2:00 pm before Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright.
According to court documents, Ottinger created and used multiple Internet accounts to encourage and direct minors and an adult to produce sexually explicit images and videos of themselves to send to Ottinger.
Ottinger posed as a young female using aliases including “Taylor Malek” or “Rachel Meyer,” to obtain the images and videos.
If a victim later blocked or ignored “her,” Ottinger would contact the victim through the alias or other accounts and threaten to publish the victim’s sexually explicit images to others unless the victim met additional demands for sexually explicit images.
This conduct is sometimes referred to as “sextortion.”
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 there may be additional victims out there.
Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the FBI Minneapolis Division at 763-569-8000.
Ottinger is charged with two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography and two counts of making extortionate threats.
If convicted, Ottinger faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison.
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