Moorpark man indicted on allegations involving child porn
A Moorpark man was indicted this week for allegedly using social networking websites to create fake profiles to allegedly trick, threaten and extort teens in Ventura County and other areas.
Jeremy Brendan Sears, 23, was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on 18 felony counts, including of eight counts of producing child pornography, four counts of distributing child porn, five counts of receiving child porn and one count of possessing child porn.
According to a 26-page grand jury indictment, Sears allegedly engaged in the activities in his Moorpark home on his computer. The Ventura Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force made up of agents and officers with the FBI and Ventura County Sheriffs Office arrested Sears on April 30. Sears is scheduled to appear at the United States District Court in Los Angeles for his arraignment on May 20.
Child pornography charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum penalty of 30 years, U.S. Attorneys Office officials said.
Sears allegedly used social networking websites popular with teens, and targeted fans of musical acts such as Justin Bieber and One Direction, according to the indictment. It added that he made fake profiles under the names such as Tommy Wiseau, Louis Tompkins, Rachel Lily and Sammi Summers to trick teens into believing the profiles were genuine and belonged to a teenager roughly the same age and of the opposite sex.
The indictment filed this week involves three victims with alleged incidents occurring around December 2012 to August 15, 2013.
According to a 110-page complaint filed on April 29, Sears allegedly harassed teens and children as young as 12 years old by trolling online forums such as Facebook, Meetme.com and other social networking sites and hijacked teens accounts by gaining administrative control over the minors personal pages.
Sears allegedly befriended minors and convinced them they were in a romantic online relationship with Sears fake profile, the indictment added. Sears allegedly asked the minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct and transmit pictures and/or video.
To aid in this activity, defendant Sears kept on his own computer and electronic storage devices a collection of nude and sexually explicit photographs and videos of apparently teenage girls, according to the indictment.
Sears also allegedly had the assistance of members from an online group known as the Bieber Trolling and Hijacking Company or The Confederacy, who aided in harassing minors by posting obscene accusations on revenge porn websites.
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Moorpark man indicted on allegations involving child porn