A Bensalem, Pennsylvania man is accused of using Snapchat to threaten to post nude photos and videos of underage girls to force them to send him more explicit photos.
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The investigation began in October 2020 when the Bensalem Police received a report that a girl was being harassed by a user on the popular social media app Snapchat. The user threatened to post nude photos of the girl if he did not send her more nude photos.
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In February, Snapchat provided investigators with the IP address of the person attempting to extort the girl. Detectives identified the user as Ian Pisarchuk, 25, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
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On March 11, detectives went to Pisarchuk’s home and interviewed him. He allegedly admitted to using Snapchat to talk to girls and stated that he had been “energetic.” Police also found multiple photos and videos of naked women and girls on his cell phone, according to investigators.
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Pisarchuk allegedly contacted his victims, told them he had nude photos of them, and threatened to post those photos online if they did not send him more explicit images. Police said the victims, some of them minors, later sent him videos for fear that he would post their nude images online.
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On Tuesday, the police executed a search warrant at Pisarchuk’s home and seized several electronic devices.
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Pisarchuck was arrested and charged with inciting a minor to produce child pornography, possession of child pornography, sexual extortion, stalking, illegal contact with a minor, terrorist threats, dissemination of obscene / sexual material of a minor, corruption of minors and criminal use of a communication facility.
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He was booked on a 10 percent bond of $ 2 million and sent to the Bucks County Jail.
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One of the victims committed suicide
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In 2016, a 21-year-old woman was harassed into submitting five explicit photos of herself on Snapchat, and then the person she was texting told her it could ruin her life and expose her. The Bensalem woman left her family a note that said “before someone else ruins my life, I am ruining mine,” and was found dead by suicide.
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At the time, police investigated the Snapchat threats, but were only able to trace the messages to an IP address at Kutztown University, which Pisarchuk attended.
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On Tuesday, Pisarchuk allegedly acknowledged to police that he had extorted photos and videos of numerous women. According to police, he said he was the Snapchat user who had threatened the 21-year-old who died and wrote a letter of apology to her family saying that he “forced her into a terrible situation.”
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There was no lawyer listed for Pisarchuk, who was being held at the Correctional Facility of the Bucks County.
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Pisarchuk used different names on Snapchat, police said. The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office believes there may be other victims and urged anyone who has experienced sextortion to contact them at 215-348-6344 or the Bensalem Police Department at 215-633-3719.
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