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Former Marine Pleads Guilty to ‘Sextorting’ Women for Nudes

He vowed he’d “ruin their lives” by threatening their friends and families, or by sending photos to their boyfriends, employers, or porn sites.

A California man pleaded guilty Friday to cyberstalking and “sextorting” multiple young women for salacious photos while he was an active-duty U.S. Marine. Between 2019 and 2021, Johao Miguel Chavarri of Camp Pendleton—who used the online alias Michael Frito—preyed on young women through platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Chavarri, 25, began by complimenting the women’s pictures and then offering to pay them for “nude, sexually explicit, or compromising photos,” the DOJ said. When women didn’t comply or later stopped responding after sharing vulnerable photos, Chavarri said he’d “ruin their lives” by threatening their friends and families, or by sending compromising photos to their boyfriends, relatives, employers, or to porn sites, the statement said. He faces up to five years in prison for each offense.