This story discusses suicide. If you happen to or somebody you recognize is having ideas of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Disaster Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A Nigerian man has been extradited to the U.S. after being indicted for allegedly working a sextortion scheme that led to a South Carolina teenager’s demise.
The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of South Carolina stated in a press launch that 24-year-old Hassanbunhussein Abolore Lawal of Osun State, Nigeria, has been indicted on costs of: youngster exploitation leading to demise; the manufacturing and distribution of kid sexual abuse materials; coercion and enticement of a minor; cyberstalking leading to demise; interstate threats with intent to extort; and aiding and abetting.
The costs stem from an investigation into the demise of 17-year-old Gavin Guffey of Rock Hill, South Carolina, who died by suicide in July 2022 after falling sufferer to Lawal’s alleged scheme.
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Brandon Guffey, proper, has been exposing the hazards of sextortion after his son, Gavin, second from proper, died by suicide final yr. (Brandon Guffey)
Lawal, the lawyer’s workplace stated, posed as a younger girl on social media and satisfied the teenager to ship compromising images. After {the teenager} despatched the images, Lawal is accused of sending harassing messages to him, threatening to leak the images and smash his popularity until the teenager despatched him cash.
Lawal is accused of later doing the identical to members of Guffey’s household.
“We is not going to permit predators who goal our youngsters to cover behind a keyboard or throughout the ocean. At the moment we honor Gavin’s life and proceed our battle towards sextortion by holding this defendant accountable,” stated U.S. Lawyer Adair Ford Boroughs for the District of South Carolina. “This investigation and extradition are the results of super regulation enforcement coordination each in america and Nigeria.”
The boy’s father, South Carolina Republican state Rep. Brandon Guffey, advised Fox Information Digital final yr that his son and the perpetrator started chatting on Instagram, the social media app owned by Fb’s father or mother firm, Meta.
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The variety of stories involving sextortion tricks to the Nationwide Heart for Lacking and Exploited Kids greater than doubled between 2019 and 2021. In 2022, 79% of offenders had been searching for cash from victims. (Brandon Guffey)
That particular person satisfied Gavin to activate “vanish mode” of their Instagram chat, which permits messages to vanish after they’re acquired.
“After which they shared images,” Guffey advised Fox Information Digital.
After exchanging images, that particular person demanded cash from Gavin. He replied that he solely had $25 in his account, which Guffey stated was not true, and despatched $25. The scammer demanded extra.
“And he even stated that I am sitting in my room with a gun. If these photos exit, I will finish it proper now,” the state lawmaker defined. “I do not know if any of the photographs had been shared.”
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Gavin Guffey, 17, died by suicide in 2022 after changing into the sufferer of a sextortion plot on Instagram. (Brandon Guffey)
Gavin, who had simply graduated from highschool that spring and had a ardour for artwork and music, shot himself that night.
After his demise, the scammer he met on Instagram tracked down Brandon Guffey and Gavin’s teenage cousin on Instagram and started demanding cash from them.
“This indictment represents the end result of numerous hours of devoted work carried out by our investigators each right here and overseas,” stated Steve Jensen, particular agent in command of the FBI Columbia Discipline Workplace. “The defendant’s alleged actions are reprehensible ensuing within the tragic lack of a younger man’s life. We stay steadfast in our dedication to holding criminals accountable, particularly those that goal our youngsters and endanger their lives, irrespective of the place they’re.”
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If convicted, Lawal faces as much as life in jail. The cost of kid exploitation leading to demise carries a compulsory sentence of 30 years in jail.
Lawal might additionally face obligatory restitution through which the court docket could order him to pay for losses incurred by the household because of his alleged scheme.
Fox Information Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
