The FBI is asking the public to help identify additional victims of a Florida man convicted last year in an extortion scheme to produce child pornography.
Lucas Michael Chansler, 31, formerly of St. Johns, Florida, pleaded guilty to nine counts of producing child pornography last August. He was sentenced in November to 105 years in federal prison for engaging in an extortion scheme to produce child porn.
Chansler targeted 350 minor victims in 26 states, three Canadian provinces and the United Kingdom, according to court testimony. Of those victims, 109 have been identified, including three from South Jersey.
The FBI is working to identify the remaining victims, in part, by posting a list of more than 100 screen names used by Chansler to extort victims.
The most-used screen names were: argon1049, poopers2212, vhugh20191, CaptainObvious, anon, Cameroon, corpum15, quinlorn1015, quinlorn1039, sk8er4life2021, tyler and VictorHugo. The complete list can be found here.
Many of the chat logs found on Chansler's computer media contained threats he made to the victims, according to the FBI.
FBI agents identified Chansler by using information received from the parents of one victim and by working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Ashley Reynolds, who was 14 when victimized by Chansler, told the FBI that she sent Chansler a topless photo after he threatened to post embarrassing sexual pictures of her. Months later, Chansler contacted Reynolds again, threatening to post the topless photo online unless she sent him more explicit photos.
Reynolds, now 20, is trying to help the FBI identify other girls victimized by Chansler. Her story — and more information on sextortion and Chansler's case — can be found here.
“This ended for me,” Reynolds told the FBI. But for many of Chansler’s victims, “this never ended for them.”
Anyone with information that may help identify victims is asked to complete a confidential questionnaire at FBI.gov/sextortion, send a confidential email to fbi.victimassistance@fbi.gov or call 1-800-225-5324.