'Sextortion': FBI makes appeal to UK teenage victims of US child sex abuse images offender

Lucus Michael Chansler targeted 350 minor girls in the US, UK and Canada

Lucus Michael Chansler

Federal investigators in the US have issued a transatlantic plea to try and identify “sextortion” victims of a man convicted of child sex abuse images crimes and who was jailed for more than 100 years.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said that Lucus Michael Chansler targeted 350 minors in the US, Canada and Britain. To date, 109 of his victims have been identified.

The FBI said it was actively working to identify Chansler’s other victims. They have identified a list of 135 known screen names that he used on MySpace, Stickam and AIM.

Court documents show that Chansler, originally from St John’s, Florida, make online threats to hundreds of teenage girls with the intention of forcing them to provide him with photographs and webcam images of the youngsters either exposing themselves or engaging in sexually explicit behaviour.

All the while he claimed to be their friend or admirer. To obtain more explicit material, he told the youngsters he would release online images they had already given him.

He did all of this while operating out of parents' garage and while posing online as a 15-year-old.

Chansler often enticed his victims to expose themselves by showing them a video of a minor male exposing himself or engaging in sexually explicit behaviour,” the bureau said.

The FBI’s assistant director Joseph Campbell said: “Sextortion is a growing threat both domestically and internationally. The devastating impact of these crimes on the victims, their families, and friends cannot be ignored.

“This case serves as an example that children anywhere can be targeted for sextortion and that the FBI remains committed to stopping this cycle of victimisation and holding the criminals accountable.”

The FBI has asked anyone who believes they were a victim of Chansler to make contact by means of an anonymous questionaire.