U.S. Attorney: Fairmont man sentenced in ‘sextortion’ case

A Fairmont man who had pleaded guilty in a "sextortion" case was sentenced to federal prison Monday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Dylan Matthew Deling was sentenced to 35 years in prison for producing child pornography and extortion.

Fairmont man pleads guilty in ‘sextortion’ case

According to Deling’s plea and court documents, between October 2017 and Aug. 2, 2018, Deling used multiple social media and chat platforms, including Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Kik and Skype, as well as text messages, to carry out his sextortion scheme. Deling extorted more than 40 minor girls whom he knew to be or believed to be between the ages of 11 and 17 for sexually explicit chats, images or videos, the attorney’s office said.

Court documents and his plea also indicate that he used multiple usernames and accounts while employing several different techniques in an effort to obtain child pornography from minors. In many instances, Deling threatened to and actually did disseminate sexually explicit images of girls to their friends and family if the girl refused to provide him with sexually explicit images. In other instances, he threatened to send associates to rape, kidnap, injure or kill the girls or their loved ones, posting screenshots of maps of their residences or contact information online.