New York City resident Phyllip Bertrand, 26, told the girls on Facebook they could make tens of thousands of dollars if they had sex with his friend “Teddy,” prosecutors said.
His first victim, a 15-year-old girl, agreed to have sex with Teddy for money on multiple occasions starting last April, prosecutors say. When she asked to get paid she was promised she would get the money at a “later date,” according to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
But the money never came. By September, she complained she hadn’t received it and stopped seeing Teddy. That’s when Bertrand, who had been using “Teddy” as an alias, allegedly tried to blackmail her, threatening to post a video of them having sex if she didn’t continue to sleep with him, ABC 7 reported.
The Brooklyn man allegedly followed through on his threats and posted a video of her having sex with him online, which was sent to several of her classmates, authorities said. The girl found out from the principal of her school.
Bertrand, who’d also used the alias “Coolen Jay,” posted the video to a porn website, prosecutors said.
The girl was not the only victim. A police review of Bertrand’s social media identified two more girls who were victimized by the scheme: a 15-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl, prosecutors said.
All three victims were lured by “Coolen Jay,” who offered them cash in exchange for having sex with his friend “Teddy” and tried to coerce them into staying in a sexual relationship through blackmail, authorities said. None of the girls was paid.
Bertrand is accused of targeting “vulnerable young girls in a cruel scheme,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
“Parents and social media users should be aware that there are many predators trolling the internet for victims, who are then preyed upon, and should always closely monitor online activity,” Gonzalez said.
Bertrand faces charges in two separate indictments that include second-degree rape and second-degree coercion and use of a child in a sexual performance as a sexually motivated felony, according to the district attorney’s office.