United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald announced two separate federal indictments against Otis Ray Mays, Jr., 26, charging him with production and receipt of child pornography and wire fraud. Following his arraignment and detention hearing yesterday before Magistrate Judge Katherine M. Menendez, MAYS was ordered to remain in custody pending further proceedings.
According to the allegations in the first indictment, from May 2017 through September 20, 2017, Mays devised a scheme to defraud two victims, a husband and wife couple. As part of the scheme, Mays falsely told the couple that he was a lawyer and offered to help them with the eviction of tenants from their rental properties. Mays also told them that their son, a college student, had visited terrorist websites and, as a result, was facing federal, criminal, terrorism charges. Mays told the victims that in exchange for a payment of $30,000, their son could avoid being detained on those federal terrorism charges, and in exchange for further payment of $6,222, those charges would be dropped. Additionally, Mays told the victims that their son’s computer contained videos that had been “pirated” and in exchange for a $305,000 payment, Mays could resolve any legal difficulties arising from the allegedly pirated videos. In total, Mays stole more than $340,000 from the victims.
According to the allegations in the second indictment, on November 20, 2017, and on November 29, 2017, Mays engaged in sexually explicit conduct with a minor victim for the purpose of producing video recordings of the conduct. Additionally, on November 29, 2017, and on December 1, 2017, Mays received multiple video files containing child pornography.
Based on the evidence obtained in both cases, authorities believe there may be additional victims of the alleged conduct. Anyone with information about this matter is encouraged to call the FBI at (763) 569-8000. Callers may remain anonymous.
