Bensalem man arrested on charges of blackmailing females for explicit Snapchat photos
A woman died by suicide after receiving Ian Pisarchuk's threats, said Bensalem police, who urged anyone who has experienced sexual extortion to contact them.
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A 25-year-old Bucks County man who allegedly solicited nude photos and videos from women and girls on Snapchat and then used the images to blackmail them was arrested on extortion, child pornography, and other charges, police said Wednesday.
Ian Pisarchuk of Bensalem threatened multiple people — including a woman who died by suicide after receiving his threats and minors as young as 12 — over the course of several years on the social media app, according to Bensalem police.
He allegedly threatened his targets with ruining their lives by publishing their photos, forcing them to send him more images, said police who reviewed Snapchat records. He allegedly told one woman that he would expose her photos and kill her if she didn’t send him explicit videos; he told the 12-year-old to “send a few pics” to “save the rest of your life.”
Pisarchuk used varying names on Snapchat, police said. The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office believes there could be other victims and urged anyone who has experienced sexual extortion to contact them at 215-348-6344 or the Bensalem Police Department at 215-633-3719.
Police traced Pisarchuk through his IP address, which Snapchat provided to police in February. Photographs and videos of naked women were found on his cell phone.
In 2016, a 21-year-old woman was harassed into sending five explicit photographs of herself on Snapchat, then told by the person she was messaging that he could ruin her life and expose her. The Bensalem woman left her family a note saying “before someone else ruins my life, I’m ruining mine,” and was found dead by suicide.
At the time, police investigated the Snapchat threats, but could only trace the messages to an IP address at Kutztown University, which Pisarchuk attended.
On Tuesday, Pisarchuk allegedly acknowledged to police that he had extorted photos and videos from numerous women. According to police, he said he was the Snapchat user who had threatened the 21-year-old who died and he wrote an apology letter to her family saying he “forced her into an awful situation.”
No attorney was listed for Pisarchuk, who was being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility.