Aurora Teens Accused of Posting Illicit Photos of High-Schoolers, Extorting Victims

Multiple Aurora high-schoolers were victimized in a sextortion scheme in which suspects posted illicit photos of the students on social media, then demanded money to take down the images.

On Thursday, December 12, the Aurora Police Department announced that three teenagers had been arrested in connection with the case: Jamir Deante Bright, an eighteen-year-old Aurora resident, and two unidentified Denver residents, ages seventeen and fourteen. Bright is the primary suspect in the case, police say, describing the other two as accomplices.

The suspects allegedly used Instagram accounts to post sexually explicit images and videos of Aurora high-schoolers, which were sometimes submitted by outside parties to "expose" the victims, or were otherwise gathered by the numerous anonymous people who had access to the accounts, says Sergeant Joseph Sullivan of the APD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.

According to police, Bright was arrested last Friday on three felony charges: two counts of child exploitation and one of criminal extortion. He is currently out of custody on a $10,000 bond.

An unknown number of people were involved in creating and posting on the Instagram accounts, Sullivan says, but Bright is believed to be the "ring leader" of the extortion part of the operation. Police don't think Bright started the Instagram pages, but they say he had access to the accounts and contacted victims requesting money in exchange for removing the posts that featured them.

"These [pages] pop up frequently," Sullivan says. "Kids will share the usernames and passwords, so the control can get shifted around pretty quickly. ... What set our suspect apart was the extortion part. That’s what set him apart from everybody else who had some kind of role.”

The scheme also involved selling sexually explicit images of the teens, according to investigators.

Police started investigating the sextortion operation in January, when "numerous" students at several high schools in Aurora reported the Instagram accounts to school resource officers.

That month, the student newspaper at Aurora's Rangeview High School published an exposé on the Instagram accounts, claiming that nearly 100 students had been victimized, including a dozen from Rangeview. The Raider Review report alleged that accounts requested $5 to $25 to remove the images, in addition to selling illicit photos for $10 and offering money to anyone who would provide illicit images of others.

Police later confirmed they had received reports from students and officials at Rangeview, Smoky Hill, Gateway, Vista Peak, Cherokee Trail and Overland high schools, as well as Aurora Hills and Mrachek middle schools. On Thursday, Sullivan declined to reveal which or how many schools had confirmed victims, but he said they were all high schools.

The total number of victims is unknown, Sullivan says, but "only a few" have been identified. At least one of the victims allegedly knew Bright personally, though none of the identified victims willingly sent the illicit photographs to Bright before being extorted. The victims are both male and female.

"Unfortunately, in these types of cases, we rely on victims coming forward, and we understand that the victims may not want to," says Lieutenant Seth Robertson of APD’s Special Victims Unit. "We always encourage victims to come forward and bring us the information that they have. We will include that in the investigation and in potential additional charges against the suspect.”

All of the Instagram accounts involved in the case have been removed, Sullivan says. Officials could not reveal how much money Bright is accused of extorting from the victims, though Sullivan says, "It was not a significant amount of money for the potential punishment that he is facing."

Bright had already graduated from high school and was a legal adult at the time the alleged crimes were committed, Sullivan says. It is unknown whether he has a criminal record.

Police say they identified Bright through a nearly year-long investigation that included residential searches, subpoenas for online records, and the seizure and examination of "several electronic devices" and "countless social media profiles." Aurora police, Homeland Security, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Denver District Attorney’s Office were all involved in the investigation.

Anyone who was victimized in the sextortion scheme or has information about additional suspects is encouraged to contact the police. Tipsters can remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000 by calling Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

“It’s easy for a victim to feel shamed by being involved in this type of victimization. Our biggest concern is for them to know that they are being supported when they come forward," Robertson says. "They don't have to keep it quiet. They will be believed, we will take it seriously, and we will investigate.”

Victims can visit takeitdown.ncmec.org and missingkids.org for help removing underaged sexually explicit images posted online, in addition to other support resources.