Asrary has confessed to tricking a nine-year-old girl that he was Justin Bieber and convinced her to send nude pictures of herself. He then tried to extort more pictures. Police say that he implicated himself in such crimes with other girls. He first pretended to be someone who knew Bieber and could arrange a “text meeting.” He directed her to set up an account on a messaging app and then posed as Bieber. After she sent the nude pictures, he threatened to reveal the photos unless she sent more pictures. This went on for years. The allegations reportedly constitute a newly defined crime of “sextortion” and search warrants were secured from various Internet sites.
The Massachusetts man is facing an interesting array of charges in California, including extortion, manufacturing child pornography, and communicating with a minor with the intent to commit a sex act. The manufacturing of child pornography is somewhat novel in that it was manufactured through trickery and extortion. He is looking at a considerable sentence with a confession on this package of charges.