A former FBI contractor accused of blackmailing underage boys by threatening to kill himself if they did not send him explicit photos is facing life behind bars.
Brett Janes, 26, is said to have used his photoshopped FBI security card to impress his victims after bragging that he worked for the “security services.”
Janes had met his young accusers playing the online game Valorant and then tricked them into switching to a strip version of the game.
He pleaded with them to send him naked photos and then threatened to commit suicide if they did not.
He told one underage boy in a Snapchat message: “im just going to kill myself cause no one likes me.”
Janes – said to have abused more than 12 boys – was finally caught when one teen’s family called police when they realised their son was talking to an adult online.
Police tracked him down through his IP address and used special software to strip away alterations he had made to his official FBI security pass photo.
Janes was charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of minors on 23rd August says Virginia State’s Eastern District US Attorney’s Office.
He was also charged with production of child sexual abuse material, attempted coercion and enticement and receiving child pornography on 23rd Wednesday.
If convicted he could be jailed for life.
Janes contacted young boys over Discord and Snapchat, according to court documents.
He allegedly got a 13-year-old boy to strip and masturbate over a live video through repeated suicide threats and by paying him money over CashApp.
Authorities began investigating Janes in February after the boy’s parents learned he was talking to an adult male online and contacted police.
Janes also groomed and begged a 12-year-old boy into sending him sexual images and attempted to meet up with another, the Attorney’s Office said.
He allegedly received child sexual abuse material from two other minor victims and bought hundreds of videos and images of child sexual abuse material from Telegram.
He has been detained in custody at the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Centre in Arlington since May.
