Man arrested for 'sextortion' of Lethbridge teen

A 20-year-old Alberta man has been arrested on numerous charges after allegedly hacking into the social media accounts of an underage girl and accessing private photos of her in order to sextort her.

Sextortion involves threatening to release sexual material in order to extort someone.

The Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit, part of AlbertaLaw Enforcement Response Teams, said Skylar Pantherbone was arrested Aug.17 at his home on the Blood First Nation. Thisfollowed a months-long investigation that involved Blood Tribe Police and Lethbridge Police.

Not known to each other

The investigation began in March when the teenage victim reported the situation to a Lethbridge police school resource officer.

ICE said in a news release that Pantherbone and the victim were not known to each other.

Pantherbonewas arrested "for similar offences" in 2016, according to ICE.

"The search of the suspect's home led to the seizure of a number of electronic devices, which will be subject to further forensic analysis," according to the ICE news release.

"Blood Tribe Police's crime reduction unit provided assistance after a quantity of illicit pills, including suspected fentanyl and oxycodone, were found along with proceeds of crime and weapons."

Multiple charges

The charges against Pantherbone are:

• Child luring.
• Extortion.
• Accessing child pornography.
• Possessing child pornography.
• Distributing child pornography.
• Breach of recognizance (x 3).
• Possession of proceeds of crime.
• Possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.
• Drug trafficking.
• Possession for the purpose of trafficking.
• Obstructing a peace officer.

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