This case is really messed up. Check out what Louis Fratangelo Jr. is accused of:
On April 28, 2023, State Police, Manlius Police, and the FBI executed a search warrant in the Town of Van Buren relating to the reports of sexual exploitation. The investigation was initiated after multiple middle school-aged children (10-14) reported to the Manlius Police that an unknown person hacked into their Snapchat accounts and stole naked images of them. This individual then would extort the children for additional nude photos under the threat of sending the ones he had to their families and friends at the school. In one instance, the suspect identified the location of the middle school child and parked outside the child’s residence.
Investigators identified the suspect as 24-year-old Louis E. Fratangelo Jr., from the town of Van Buren.
State Police, along with the FBI, conducted a search warrant at Fratangelo’s residence. During the search, investigators discovered and seized (2) illegal AR-Style firearms, body armor, child pornography, and illegal fireworks.
https://www.nyspnews.com/van-buren-man-arrested-on-multiple-sex-offense-charges-following-joint-investigation-with-manlius-police-and-fbi.htm
The illegal fireworks are probably the least of his problems. He’s also accused of producing child pornography:
The New York State Police Computer Crime Unit (CCU) conducted forensic previews on seized items and located thousands of images of child pornography (infant to pre-teen), child pornography which the state police alleged Fratangelo produced with a local child, and evidence of narcotics and firearms trafficking. Information was developed that the suspect may have utilized numerous Snapchat accounts not associated with him, including “alex_jones7858”.
His charges include:
On April 28, 2023, Fratangelo was arrested and charged with the following (9) felony counts,(3) misdemeanors,(1) violation):
- (2) counts Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd degree, class “C” felony
- (1) count Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance, class “C” felony
- (2) counts Criminal Possession of a Firearm, class E” felony
- (1) count Criminal Sexual Act 3rd degree, class “E” felony
- (1) count Rape 3rd degree, class “E” felony
- (2) counts Possession of a Sexual Performance by a Child, class “E” felony
- (2) counts Unlawful Purchase of Body Armor, class “A” misdemeanor
- (1) count Endangering the Welfare of a Child, class “A” misdemeanor
- (1) count Unlawfully Dealing with Fireworks and Dangerous Fireworks, a violation
There is a disturbing footnote way at the bottom of the press release:
Fratangelo was arraigned and transported to the Onondaga County Justice Center, where he posted a $250,000 bond. His mug shot photo is being released as the State Police believe he traveled to meet one middle school-age child and may have traveled to meet others in the Syracuse area.
State Police believe there may be more victims and encourage concerned parents to contact State Police Investigator Gallo at (315) 366-6000 or Manlius Police.
Sources:
- https://www.nyspnews.com/van-buren-man-arrested-on-multiple-sex-offense-charges-following-joint-investigation-with-manlius-police-and-fbi.htm (Photo)
- https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/news/regional-news/van-buren-man-accused-of-hacking-childrens-snapchat-accounts-and-trying-to-extort-them/
Transcript
[00:00:00]
[00:00:08] Keith: Today on eCrimeBytes nibble number 41, we’re gonna talk about a New York man who was charged with hacking children’s Snapchat nudes, and then further extorting these children. This case is really messed up, so the person involved here, his name is Louis Fratangelo Jr. and he’s accused of in April of 2023, the Manlius Police and the FBI executed a search warrant in the town of Van Buren, and this is in state of New York, relating to reports of sexual exploitation. Now, there’s multiple school children aged 10 to 14, and they reported to the Manlius police that an unknown person hacked into their Snapchat accounts and stole naked images of them.
[00:01:02] Now, please put aside what you think about children having naked images. It was there, this person stole it. And that’s what, that’s the part we’re talking about here. The individual that stole these images would then extort the children for additional nude photos under the threat of sending the ones that he has already to their family and friends at the school.
[00:01:23] In one instance, Fratangelo Jr. identified the location of a middle school child and parked outside the child’s residence. So again, the individual’s name is Louis Fratangelo Jr. from the town of Van Buren, and it was the New York State Police along with F B I and Manlius Police. They executed a search warrant at Fratangelo’s residence.
[00:01:50] During the search, investigators discovered and seized two illegal AR style firearms, body armor, child pornography, and illegal fireworks. Now, the illegal fireworks is probably the least of his problems. He’s also accused of producing child pornography. So when the New York State Police Computer Crime Unit conducted forensic reviews on the seized items, they located thousands of images of child pornography, infant to preteen child pornography, which state police allege Fratangelo produced with a local child. So it’s not like he just went out there and found some, he actually made child pornography. And he also had evidence of narcotics and firearms trafficking.
[00:02:41] There is information that the suspect has utilized numerous Snapchat accounts not associated with him, including one called Alex underscore Jones, 78 58. So eventually for Anglo was charged. His charges, included two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, which is a Class C felony.
[00:03:07] One count of use of a child in a sexual performance, which is a class C felony. Two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, class E felony. One count of criminal sexual act, third degree class E felony, one count of rape, third degree class E felony, two counts possession of a sexual performance by a child, class E felony. Two counts unlawful purchase of body armor class A misdemeanor. One count endangering the welfare of a child, class a misdemeanor, and one count of unlawfully dealing with fireworks and dangerous fireworks, a violation. And as I was reading through this research, there was one disturbing footnote way at the bottom of the press release, and this was the reason why I chose to talk about this case was that the state police believe there may be more victims, and they’re encouraging any concerned parents or victims to contact the state Police Investigator Gallo at (315) 366-6000, or the Manlius Police Department. So, yeah, I, I don’t have to take these sexual crime cases, but in this case, it was so egregious, and they’re not even sure if they know of all the victims that it seemed worth making an eCrime nibble about in case somebody out there can be helped by knowing this information.
[00:04:41] So with that, I hope you enjoy this style of electronic crime news, nibbles like this. I know sex crimes isn’t the funnest of cases to listen to. But we have a lot of other types of nibbles out there where we talk about swatting and electronic crime cases and theft of cryptocurrency.
[00:05:04] Anything that touches a computer we try to talk about on eCrimeBytes, either as a nibble like this, which is only a few minutes long, or my co-host, Seth Eichenholtz and I, we take the subject and we go a little more into it. Usually about a half an hour to an hour. And we talk a little deeper about the criminal, the crime, how the crime worked, how they were caught possibly some remediation steps, if you’re part of that crime. We try to put it together as a story for you so you can understand what happened from the beginning to the end. So with that, I hope you at least enjoyed the style of an electronic crime update, not necessarily the sex crime material. And I hope you join us on one of our other topics soon. Thanks and bye.
[00:05:50]
#ecrimebytes #electronic #truecrime #podcast
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