Man faces prison over livestreaming sextortion
Kanata man demanded degrading acts then vowed to expose participants online
In an elaborate online extortion scheme designed to get young women to perform sexually degrading acts live on the internet for his own gratification, Ryan McCann preyed on five young women — one of whom was forced to live with him as his girlfriend under the threat he’d post her sex videos and ruin her life.
That woman was so terrified of McCann that she faked her own death to finally rid him from her life.
From his parents’ basement on a quiet Kanata street, 29-yearold McCann created a fake online cam-girl company designed exclusively to prey on, degrade and then extort young women.
In the online extortion scheme, McCann assumed various personas — including recruiter, business manager, enforcer and protector — to give the illusion of a bona fide online firm with lots of employees.
According to an agreed statement of facts, McCann — who pleaded guilty this week to five counts of extortion — always met his victims online, usually on non-nudity livestreaming apps where he’d follow them and send them money to win their trust. Then he’d entice them into one-on-one live, private chats on Snapchat or WhatsApp, where he’d present them with his business plan. He said certain men would pay to chat live, one-on-one with “pretty girls.”
They were told they could make big bucks and that there’d be no nudity or sex acts.
When the victims — aged 16 to 22 — hesitated, they were directed to an online chat group where they were encouraged by other women who praised McCann’s company, talked about the money they had made, and assured them the camgirl company was legitimate. The women in the chat group were in fact coerced to lie to new recruits because McCann had threatened to post sexually explicit videos of them if they refused.
After pressure and the lure of fast money, the five victims finally agreed, separately, to do a live show. He told them the private online shows would not be recorded and there would be no
“sexual stuff.” McCann said they’d be doing things like changing an outfit off-screen or doing a dance for private clients and didn’t have to do anything that made them uncomfortable.
It was really only McCann watching, and he was recording all of it.
Afterward when the women would ask how much they were going to get paid, they were told they needed to do four more shows first. After they agreed to do more videos, the private “clients” — in reality, McCann — would ask the women to do more and more, and offer more and more money.
The requests would inevitably turn sexual and become more degrading and demeaning, according to court filings.
When they refused to do more videos, they were extorted into doing one final “everything-asked” video to get out of the company under the threat he’d post their sex videos.
In the worst case, one of his victims was forced to live with him or he would publicly shame her online. Even after she staged her own death, McCann didn’t stop harassing and threatening her. He demanded a death certificate from her family in the United States and when he didn’t get one, he threatened to post sex videos of her if he didn’t hear her voice. She gave in and again was compelled to move in with him under the threat he’d post her sex videos.
In December 2018, the woman’s mother became concerned and made plans to buy her an airline ticket home to the U.S. McCann texted the mother, typing, “you buying a ticket for (her) is a mistake ... Now I promise you ... you let me do what I have to do and when it’s done I’ll send her home and I’ll never bother her again.”
The mother called the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who asked Ottawa police for assistance. City police rescued the woman and arrested McCann on Dec. 18, 2018.
McCann originally was charged with 50 crimes, including extortion, forcible confinement, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, voyeurism, harassment, indecent phone calls and possession of child pornography, but this week, in a plea deal, he admitted to only five counts of extortion.
He remains in jail awaiting sentencing by Ontario Court Justice Vincent Clifford.
McCann is expected to get a penitentiary sentence because this isn’t the first time he has terrorized women.
In 2010, McCann was sentenced to eight years in prison for crimes his own lawyer at the time described as “degrading, abhorrent, callous, selfish and offensive.” McCann admitted to preying on 22 victims with the same extortion scheme used in the current case. He was charged with more than 50 crimes but pleaded guilty to 21 counts.
Police at the time could only identify 22 victims, but said there were more. In that case, women were extorted into degrading acts on video.
McCann was released in 2014 after serving four years.
His latest reported crimes took place between May and December 2018, police said. gdimmock@postmedia.com twitter.com/crimegarden
I promise you
... you let me do what I have to do and when it’s done I’ll send her home and I’ll never bother her again.