New York Daily News

Cyber slimeball

B’klyn perv posed as teen to sextort girls: feds

- BY ADAM EDELMAN BY ANDREW KESHNER and ROCCO PARASCANDO­LA rparascand­ola@nydailynew­s.com

FORMER PRESIDENT Barack Obama on Monday made his first public comments since leaving the White House, but provided only a wink and a nod when it came to his controvers­ial successor.

Obama, participat­ing in a A 34-YEAR-OLD Brooklyn man posed as a teen, then sexually exploited young girls on Facebook — even threatenin­g to tell the parents of one victim until she agreed to take a sick video, authoritie­s said Monday.

Ruslan Mirvis (photo) was ordered held without bail after he was arraigned Friday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Charged with the sexual exploitati­on of children, Mirvis confessed that he convinced minors “to take pictures and videos of themselves and other minor victims engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” according to court papers.

“Mirvis stated that, at times, he would . . . use threats in connection with his production of child pornograph­y,” the papers said.

He made the admissions Friday morning, when authoritie­s showed up with a search warrant at his Midwood apartment, the papers said.

Mirvis’ alleged acts of exploitati­on — including incidents in which he used Facebook’s video calling feature with the victims — involved at least 14 girls, authoritie­s said.

The victims were between the ages of 12 and 16 and the alleged behavior dates to March 2016, according to court papers and police sources.

The suspect pretended to be a 16-year-old boy, police sources said.

Authoritie­s opened an investigat­ion on April 14. That’s when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children got a tip about more than 20 explicit pictures and videos linked to a Facebook account. According to the papers, the user of that account had also accessed an account with the username Ruslan Mirvis. The accounts’ IP address matched the suspect’s home address, the papers said. In one exchange laid out in the papers, Mirvis allegedly told a victim to “put on tiny shorts” and slowly rub her thighs and belly. When she expressed concern about heeding his request to take her shorts off, he allegedly told her: “im trying to make u my girl take it of.”

The teen later sent Mirvis a Facebook message telling him she no longer wanted to send him images.

He claimed he had found a Facebook account for her family and would “be sending them all pictures,” the papers said.

That threat, authoritie­s said, convinced her to fulfill Mirvis’ next wish.

On March 29, she sent the suspect a video that shows her performing oral sex on her 2-year-old sister, the papers said.

Mirvis’ lawyer, Amanda David, declined to comment Monday on the allegation­s.

The suspect describes himself on his Twitter page as a martial arts expert, magician and chef.

 ??  ?? In his first public appearance since leaving the White House, former President Barack Obama managed to avoid any direct comment on his successor at Chicago forum Monday.
In his first public appearance since leaving the White House, former President Barack Obama managed to avoid any direct comment on his successor at Chicago forum Monday.
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