Man Who Extorted Child Pornographers Gets Five Years In Prison

PORTLAND, OR – Things took a turn on July 18, 2010. That's when the FBI arrested a man in Oregon on charges that he'd produced child pornography. The same day, the FBI executed a search warrant at his home, finding not only child pornography but logs of internet chats that he'd had with other pornographers.

The man agreed to cooperate with their investigation.

Among other things, the man told the FBI how someone had hacked into his computer, discovered what he'd been doing, and started to blackmail him, telling him that if he didn't pay, his life would be "over."

He was originally directed to send $1,000 every month through Western Union. The man was then directed to start acting as middleman, collecting payment from other victims while using fake ID provided by the blackmailer.

One of those victims had taken out a loan and flew to Portland to give the man cash to be turned over to the blackmailer, according to court papers. Get all the latest information on what's happening in your community by signing up for Patch's newsletters and breaking news alerts.

After about a year and a half, once the man was regularly doing other things for the blackmailer, he saw his monthly payments cut in half.

But he was forced to pay in other ways, according to prosecutors.

The blackmailer demanded photos of the man's young daughter; photos the man understood to be pornographic. The man was then told that he would need to turn over his daughter to a man known only as "Joe."

The man was also told to buy certain costumes, sex toys, makeup, and a digital camera that he would turn over with his daughter.

Prosecutors say that the man "believed his daughter would be sexually assaulted or molested by Joe or others, so he drugged her before her dropping her off."

The costumes and the camera – minus its memory card – were later returned to the man with his daughter.

The man would be forced to turn her over one more time.

If there was any good to come from this, prosecutors say, it was that they were able to get a palm print from"Joe" on the box that had contained the camera and costumes.

From that, officials identified Andre Shaw, arrested him, and searched his home.

They seized computers, compact discs and other storage devices, several pieces of identification with Shaw's picture but different names, several firearms, including a semi-automatic assault rifle, and several homemade silencers.

"Shaw extorted more than $100,000 from various victims," prosecutors said. "Often, the pattern of conduct was similar: Shaw would hack into the victims’ computer, find evidence of their illegal activity and threaten to expose them unless they paid.

"The full extent of Shaw’s criminal activities remains a mystery, however, because his computer equipment and the discs found in his residence were all heavily encrypted. To date, the government’s attempts to defeat the encryption have been unsuccessful."

Prosecutors added that "at least two of Shaw's victims are now dead, having taken their own lives."

Shaw pleaded guilty to extortion, money laundering and other charges. In a memo to the court, his lawyer said that Shaw had justified his actions by saying that "in his view it was only hurting people who deserved it."

Shaw's victims were believed to be from around the world including Oregon, the midwest, Great Britain, and other places. Prosecutors say that because they couldn't get information from Shaw's computers they don't know who all of his victims were.

In sentencing Shaw, Judge Michael Simon gave him 63 months in jail.behind bars, substantially above the three-plus years that prosecutors and Shaw's lawyer had agreed to as part of the plea deal.

Simon pointed out that what had happened to the man's daughter who was drugged and turned over to Shaw was basically abduction and cannot be avoided.

"She's a victim of his crime," he said.

Photo via MCSO.