Social media sextortionist gets 50 years

Virginia man targeted young girls across country

A Miami federal judge has sentenced a Virginia man to 50 years in prison and a lifetime of probation for using the internet to target and extort children through sexual exploitation across the country, including Broward County.

Joseph Isaiah Woodson, Jr., 30, of Ashburn, was convicted Sept. 27 of producing child pornography and sending threats to at least seven young girls, including three in Davie, Plantation, and Coral Springs.

Between October 2017 and September 2018, Woodson “persuaded, induced, enticed and coerced” numerous underage girls to engage in sexually explicit conduct using the camera on their cellphones that he recorded and shared online, according to court documents.

Woodson infiltrated the

Snapchat accounts of these children by pretending to be one of their friends on social media. Once he got their passwords, Woodson took over the victims’ Snapchat accounts and demanded the children send him sexually explicit videos and images of themselves using the web-based texting application “KIK” in order to get back and regain control of their accounts.

Woodson conspired with others to systematically extort and exploit children using the internet, investigators said.

“Joseph Isaiah Woodson, Jr. is a menace who preyed on the most vulnerable among us, children,” said George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami. “His sentence of 50 years in prison should serve as a warning to others involved in sextortion.”

Sextortion has become so widespread that the FBI has launched an awareness campaign in schools.