A California man was sentenced to five years of prison for cyberstalking multiple females in California in a “sextortion” campaign he waged when he was a active-duty soldier in the U.S. Marine Corps.
According to court documents, from May 2019 to February 20, 2021 Johao Miguel Chavarri known as Michael Frito, 26, of Torrance was stalked and sent anonymous threatening communications to a variety of victims.
Chavarri frequently referred to himself by the name “Frito,” contacted victims on social media platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter and complimented their appearance and/or their publicly posted photos and suggested a possible relationship that would see him pay the victim to send him pictures or videos. A few of the victims agreed to Chavarri’s suggestions and sent him naked sexually explicit or sexually explicit photos. When victims refused Chavarri’s initial request for photos or videos, refusing to send him more images or videos, or otherwise refused to continue to communicate with him on the internet, Chavarri began to harass and threaten to extort the victims using numerous online accounts. In the majority of cases, he threatened to publish sexually explicit photos and videos of the victims online or on well-known pornography websites, and/or to send the photos or videos to the victims friends, boyfriends, families, or employers, who he would often specifically identify by name.
Chavarri was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and to serve three years of supervision.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie S. Christensen for the Central District of California; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Supervisory Special Agent Adam Smith of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI Los Angeles Field Office, Long Beach Resident Agency was involved in the investigation, with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
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