ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Carver County man pleaded guilty to child pornography and extortion charges related to a years-long sextortion scheme, announced Acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk.
According to court documents, Mitchell James Ottinger, 25, a former substitute teacher and paraprofessional, engaged in a scheme to obtain sexually explicit images and videos of minors and adults by using false online personas. Ottinger threatened to disseminate the images and videos of his victims in order to extort more images and videos. Over the course of several years Ottinger victimized more than 10 minors, some of whom he knew from the school district where he worked.
Law enforcement was alerted to the sextortion when one of the victims contacted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center and reported the threats.
A sentencing date has not been set.
