ATLANTA — Editor's note: The above video is part of a previous investigation called "Selling Girls" that examined sex trafficking in America.
A Georgia man being called a "prolific sextortionist" by the US Attorney's office will spend the next 40 years of his life in prison, after being found guilty of exploiting more than 100 girls, according to federal officials.
A federal judge handed down the sentence for Benjamin Jenkins, 25, after a jury found him guilty back on Jan. 16 on 12 total counts of producing and distributing child pornography that prosecutors said he coerced the young girls to create.
“Jenkins exploited as many as 150 girls for his perverse satisfaction, causing unbelievable trauma to these children and their families,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak in a statement announcing the sentencing. “The sheer degradation and depravity that Jenkins forced his victims to endure is unimaginable. This sentence will hopefully help these courageous victims and their families heal.”
According to Pak, beginning in 2015, Jenkins allegedly used different identities to contact girls between the ages of 13 and 16 years.
Prosecutors said he would use different aliases and profiles to lure the girls and then would persuade them to send a sexually suggestive photo of themselves. After a girl sent him a photo, prosecutors said Jenkins would threaten her into sending him more photos and videos by claiming that he would post their photos online or send them to their family and friends.
Prosecutors added that if a girl did not provide him with a photo or video quickly enough, Jenkins would start a "countdown clock" before he started posting her other images online. And if a girl blocked Jenkins, prosecutors said he would send her explicit photos to her parents and friends with demands that the girl resume communications with him, or post the photos and contact information online with messages for men to contact the girls directly for more photos or for sex. In total, prosecutors said Jenkins sextorted as many as 150 girls or more.
“No sentence will ever bring back the innocence that this monster stole from hundreds of girls,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operations in Georgia and Alabama. “These victims were trapped in a vicious cycle from which they could not escape."
After serving the 40 years in prison, Benjamin will also be subject to a lifetime of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender once released.