Minnesota man Dylan Deling who sextorted more than 40 girls, some as young as 11, gets 35 years in jail
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: A Minnesota man, Dylan Deling, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for sextorting more than 40 girls. Some of the girls were as young as 11 years old.
The 21-year-old was given 420 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty last year to producing child pornography and extortion as announced by the US District Attorney for Minnesota Erica MacDonald on August 17, CBS reported. MacDonald had released a statement that read, "This defendant’s victimization went beyond sexual exploitation; his ultimate goal was to instill fear and humiliation. This type of depraved criminal behavior will not be tolerated. It is my hope that today’s sentence represents justice and closure for the victims and their families."
As reported by Star Tribune, Deling was sentenced to prison by US District Judge Wilhelmina M Wright on August 17. The US Attorney's Office of Minnesota had released a statement where they said, "Deling sextorted more than 40 minor girls whom he knew to be or believed were between 11 and 17 years old." Investigators revealed that Deling who also went by the names Jason Keens and Dylan Nash and had used social media accounts on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook to procure sexually explicit pictures in order to extort the girls. He had also threatened to send explicit images to the girls' families or physically harm them or their loved ones.
He would lure the girls by showing them affection and would slowly persuade them to send him photos, the police revealed. While extorting them, he would send the pictures to the victims' family and friends and would threaten to have men rape, kidnap or kill the victims or their family. When his victims did not comply, he would post pictures of them on the internet in some cases. He had also earlier been convicted in state court for possession of child pornography and had been required to register as a sex offender.
In order to keep his victims scared, he would send them screenshots of maps of their house address or the address belonging to their loved ones. Deling would also share other identifying information online and one time, he even got one of his victims' friends to send him pictures.
Deling had pleaded guilty in 2019. It is reported that the incidents had all taken place between October 2017 and August 2, 2018. The mother of one of his victims identified as 'Minor C' had urged for imprisonment. Court documents state that the victim, 17, had produced pornography images while dealing with Deling's threats. The child's mother had played a massive role in providing information to law enforcement on Deling's threats. She said that Deling's crimes had "shattered" and "smashed" 'Minor C' and her family. "I try not to think about this anymore, but at times it comes to mind, and I feel a profound sense of sadness and grief," the mother said in a letter to the court. "He stole so much from my daughter, and from our family, things we can never get back," she added.
Besides being sentenced to prison for 30 years, Deling will also be under supervised release for 30 years after being released.