BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore man has pleaded guilty to charges that he posed as a young girl to induce teenage boys to send him sexually explicit images and videos before he extorted them, a federal prosecutor said.
Matthew K. Walsh, 24, pleaded guilty on Friday to sexual exploitation of a minor in order to produce child pornography, said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron.
According to his plea agreement, from at least 2016 through 2021, Walsh created fake online profiles on multiple platforms posing as young girl to make contact with boys between the ages of 12 and 17 and induce them to produce sexually explicit images and videos.
Once Walsh got the images, he extorted the boys into producing more explicit images and videos, threatening to send the earlier images to their friends if they didn’t, the plea agreement said.
Prosecutors said Walsh also uploaded the files to various social media accounts and sold the sexually explicit files to others.
To date, more than 40 boys have been positively identified as victims of Walsh’s conduct, and at least 30 victims’ pictures and videos were sold and/or distributed to others by Walsh.
Walsh is to be sentenced on Nov. 4.
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