Font size:February 05, 2009 01:45pmArticle from: Reuters
A STUDENT posed as a girl on Facebook to trick male classmates into sending naked photos of themselves before blackmailing some for sex acts.
Anthony Stancl even filmed some of the revolting encounters on his mobile phone, prosecutors say.The "really sinister" case has emerged as Facebook celebrates its fifth birthday - and as rival networking site MySpace reveals it has kicked off thousands of sex offenders.
"The kind of manipulation that occurred here is really sinister in my estimation," Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel said in the United States.
The students go to New Berlin Eisenhower High School in New Berlin, which is in Waukesha County about 15 miles west of Milwaukee.
Stancl, of New Berlin, was charged yesterday with five counts of child enticement, two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, two counts of third-degree sexual assault, possession of child pornography, repeated sexual assault of the same child, and making a bomb threat.
The incidents happened from spring 2007 through to November, when officers questioned Stancl about a bomb threat he allegedly sent to teachers and wrote about on a school's bathroom wall. It resulted in the closing of New Berlin Eisenhower Middle and High School.
According to the criminal complaint, Stancl first contacted the students through the social networking site Facebook, pretending to be a girl named Kayla or Emily.
The boys reported they were tricked into sending nude photos or videos of themselves, the complaint said.
Thirty-one victims were identified and interviewed and more than half said the girl with whom they were communicating tried to get them to meet with a male friend to let him perform sex acts on them.
They were told that if they didn't, she would send the nude photos or movies to their friends and post them on the Internet, according to the complaint. Stancl used the excuse to get the victims to perform repeated acts, the complaint said.
Seven boys were identified in the complaint by their initials as either having to allegedly perform sex acts on Stancl or Stancl on them in the high school bathroom, parking lots, neighborhoods under construction, the public library restroom, parks and at some of the victims' homes.
The complaint said Stancl took photos with his cell phone of the encounters.
Officers found about 300 nude images of juvenile males on his computer, according to the complaint. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 17 or 18 years of age at the time of the assaults, the complaint said.
"We know from experience how damaging sexual abuse on children can be," Schimel said.
"We are particularly concerned in this case because of the sheer number of kids that are all in one school."
Schimel said one victim came forward before the bomb threat, but authorities would have likely found Stancl anyway due to the threat.
Stancl's attorney, Craig Kuhary, said Stancl plans to initially plead not guilty to the charges.
"It's too early in the case for me to make a statement, other than the fact at some point we are going to go into events that had taken place earlier that might have had some impact on what he did here," he said. He wouldn't go into specifics.
Kuhary said he hoped that at some point they could reach a plea agreement with the district attorney. Schimel said he was open to talking to Kuhary.
Kuhary said Stancl has been expelled from school.
A preliminary hearing for Stancl has been scheduled February 26.
The maximum penalty if convicted on all charges is nearly 300 years in prison.
