Man gets 10 years for coercing girl to send nude images

A Mexican national living in Georgia has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for coercing a 12-year-old girl from North Carolina to send him nude photos of herself after taking over her Facebook account.

The US attorney’s office in Atlanta says 32-year-old Gerardo Perez Uribe met the 12-year-old Cabarrus County girl on Facebook in the summer of 2014.

Perez Uribe first told the victim that he was 13 years old but later claimed to be 25 years old. 

He asked the girl to send him nude images of herself, and she did. After receiving the images in August 2014, Perez Uribe hijacked the girl’s Facebook account, changed her password, and locked her out of the account, according to a press release from the office of US Attorney Byung Pak.

Perez Uribe was a legal permanent resident in the US. Prosecutors say he will be deported to his native country after serving his prison sentence.

Perez Uribe then threatened to post the girl’s nude images on her Facebook page if she refused to send him more nude photos of herself. 

The girl took Perez Uribe’s threat seriously and sent him four photographs of herself that met the federal definition of child pornography.

When the girl’s parents learned of what happened, they contacted the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office, which investigated the case and then turned it over to the FBI.

‘”Sextortion” is a growing problem on social media sites,’ Pak said in a statement. ‘Our office along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners encourage parents to help us target those who seek to prey on children by watching what your children are doing on the Internet, and who they are communicating with. 

‘Most children do not understand the dangers that may lurk on the Internet, and can easily fall victim to predators like Uribe.’

Perez Uribe, who lived in Rex, just south of Atlanta, pleaded guilty in August and was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.