Perv, 42, in sick teen sex scheme

A Staten Island sex offender posed as a teenager on Instagram to sexually exploit a 16-year-old girl for two months, authorities said Wednesday.

Ryan Behar, 42, faces a charge of attempted exploitation of a child after exchanging sexually explicit video and images with the young girl last year, the U.S. attorney general’s office said in a statement.

“Behar misused social media in an effort to lure an underage teenager into having sexually explicit communications with him,” Acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said.

The 42-year-old has been a registered sex offender since 2018, with a history of “criminal misconduct involving minors,” DuCharme said in court documents.

Behar posed as a 14-year-old on Instagram and befriended the unidentified girl in 2020, authorities said. From September to October he sent her graphic messages, along with images of his penis where he informed her, “That’s mine.”

Officials said during that time he also lured the youngster into sending him nude images, and appearing naked in explicit live videos. During one video call on Instagram, he persuaded the teenager to undress.

“Go in bathroom .... keep camera on,” he told her during a long, disturbing exchange, authorities said.

Investigators learned about Behar’s exchanges with the 16-year-old after he was caught in January trying to lure a 12-year-old girl through Instagram, according to court documents. The girl reported him to her parents, who, with the help of an aunt, created a fake Instagram account and started communicating with Behar, documents state.

They set up a meeting at the Staten Island Mall on Jan. 24, authorities said. After the girl’s father identified the man, he was arrested by police. Authorities then obtained a warrant to look through his Instagram exchanges and discovered his communications with the 16-year-old.

It was also discovered that in the span of five months, from September 2020 to January, he sent photos of his penis to 14 victims, court documents said. Most were between 12 and 15, with the youngest just 10 years old.

“Predators are appallingly aggressive in targeting society’s youth,” William Sweeney, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, said in a statement. “If you think your child or teen is shielded from this type of predator, who can quietly target your child without ever having to physically enter your home, please think again.”