Pervert catfisher poses as teen girl, gets off by blackmailing 8-year-old boys into sending him nudes
A pedophile who was accused of posing as a 16-year-old girl to manipulate boys as young as eight to send him explicit photos was jailed for six years and four months.
Kurtis Whaley, 24, from Manly Vale, Sydney, coerced boys aged from eight to 15 from June 2014 until February 2019, when he was arrested, by pretending to be a teenage girl. He was sentenced on Tuesday, May 12, with a non-parole period of six years and four months.
Over the period of time that Whaley ran the scam, he collected 700 videos and photos of 49 victims by recording Skype and Omegle live streams of the naked children aged eight to 15 and taking screenshots of temporary Snapchat and Instagram photos, Daily Mail reported.
His criminal conduct was described by Judge Ian Bourke as the enjoyment of "sadistic victimization and the exercise of power" and "cruel and merciless."
In a letter addressed to the court, the defendant apologized for the pain that he had caused to the victims and their families. He also seemed to hint at an excuse in the letter, claiming that he was struggling to come to terms with his sexuality at the time of committing the crimes.
"A lot of victims begged me not to do what I did... thinking back on it now it makes me feel sick," he said. "I am so ashamed that I have let my family down. I was not raised to be like this."
Apparently, when he pulled the hoax, he would go by the name Beth and blackmailed his victims saying he would expose their nude photos and videos if his demands were not fulfilled. He also turned a deaf year to earnest pleas from his victims who repeatedly told him to leave them alone.
The court heard that in one of the instances, Whaley sent explicit images of a boy to the victim's mother and nine-year-old sister. Then he threatened them saying that if they did not comply, he "will only make things worse".
In another, he brushed off a threat from a victim's father who told him to "f*** off" and that he had alerted the police. "That's what you said last time," Whaley said, warning that the father would "soon see that I'm not joking."
Some of the victims attempted to counter Whaley's bullying ways by reminding him that he could become a sex offender if he was reported to the police. "That's illegal what you are doing," the friend of a 13-year-old victim messaged Whaley on Instagram after receiving a nude picture, "it's blackmail and you are spreading child pornography. You're obviously concerned about becoming a sex offender or going to jail for, like, five years."
Whaley mocked the sender before boasting, "Mate I've been doing this long enough. What can the police do? Honestly".
When another victim asked him, "Why are you doing this?" Whaley responded, "because I can."
Whaley pleaded guilty in January. He was diagnosed with sexual perversion, depression and anxiety by a doctor. Citing the diagnosis he said that Whaley was open to rehabilitation.