LA Man Sold Nude Photos Of High Schoolers Through 'Sextortion' Business: DOJ

LOS ANGELES, CA — A San Fernando Valley Man accused of selling sexually explicit photos of high school girls on Instagram — and extorting victims into sending more photos after they found out about his enterprise — pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal child pornography charge.

Alejandro Garcia Aranda, 23, pleaded guilty in a Downtown Los Angeles court to one count of distribution of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In 2020, Aranda used the Instagram handle “valleyhoezzz818" to target local girls who attended schools in the San Fernando Valley. His self-proclaimed goal was one of “exposing all valley h--s with their @’s," prosecutors said.

Aranda advertised sexually explicit content of the victims on the account. After customers paid him via Venmo and other apps, Aranda sent ZIP files to the customers that contained the photos, prosecutors said.

In several instances, the high school girls in the photographs discovered Aranda's scheme. When they requested that Aranda remove the photos, he tried to extort them into sending him more photos, telling them he would post more photos of them if they did not, prosecutors said.

There's been an uptick in so-called "sextortion" cases in recent years, in which young victims are coerced into sending sexually explicit photos of themselves, according to the FBI.

"After the criminals have one or more videos or pictures, they threaten to publish that content, or they threaten violence, to get the victim to produce more images. The shame, fear, and confusion children feel when they are caught in this cycle often prevents them from asking for help or reporting the abuse," the FBI said.

Aranda faces between five and 20 years behind bars at a Feb. 18 sentencing hearing, prosecutors said.

City News Service contributed to this report.