L.I. man admits extortion, faces 5 yrs. in jail
A LONG ISLAND man is facing five years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to “sextorting” more than 30 young women with explicit photos and videos, Suffolk County prosecutors said Friday.
Joseph Iorio, 21, of Holtsville threatened to blast out lurid photos of the women on social media if they didn’t provide him with more pictures of them naked and performing sex acts, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini.
Some of his requests were downright sadistic, officials said. At one point, he ordered one of his victims to sodomize herself with a screwdriver, ABC News reported.
“In (another case), he literally turned a victim into a virtual sex slave for over two years,” Sini said.
His victims ranged between 18 and 20 years old, cops said.
After reaching out to his victims and making his demands, he set up a countdown clock, according to CBS 2.
If they did what he demanded before the countdown ended, the victim was safe from exposure — but Iorio’s games continued, Sini said.
“Some women were forced to appear in public in the nude, perform sex acts upon themselves that have resulted in injury, and much worse,” Sini said. “It’s a modern day form of sexual torture.”
Iorio pleaded guilty to one count of stalking and one count of scheme to defraud during a plea deal hammered out in Suffolk County court. He is expected to be sentenced to five years in prison.
Iorio ran an online forum where users — mostly jilted boyfriends — uploaded nude images of young women with identifying information including names, home towns and the schools they attend.
After receiving the pictures from users, Iorio would reach out to the women on social media, threatening to disseminate the pictures to their friends and family if they didn’t meet his demands.
One of Iorio’s victims who received partially nude photographs of herself in a Facebook message from someone named “Luke As” reached out to authorities in July 2017, launching a multi-jurisdictional investigation.
With the help of the NYPD, investigators learned that Iorio was also sextorting women under the Facebook name “Mike Cosgrove,” officials said.
Cops arrested Iorio on Jan. 18 for extortion and other charges.
“We can only imagine the type of fear, isolation and desperation that these women must feel when they receive a message showing that someone they don’t know has an image of them naked or performing a sex act,” Sini said. “That’s how these sick, sadistic offenders are able to get girls and women to do these acts that are against their will and that are damaging to them, both physically and emotionally.”
Sini announced that his office is launching a new initiative to address sextortion cases through aggressive investigation and prosecution, educating young people and parents about the dangers of taking nude photos and videos and connecting victims with resources.
Sini is also campaigning for specific legislation to outlaw sextortion and revenge porn in New York State and to require perpetrators of these crimes to register as sex offenders.