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Sextortion case a reminder to have that ‘sexting’ talk

If you haven't had a good reason to talk with your children, your siblings or your parents about the dangers of taking naked self-portraits, perhaps this will drive the point home.

Adam Savader collected photographs of himself with political celebrities. Here Savader poses with Ann Coulter. (FACEBOOK)
Adam Savader collected photographs of himself with political celebrities. Here Savader poses with Ann Coulter. (FACEBOOK)Read more

If you haven't had a good reason to talk with your children, your siblings or your parents about the dangers of taking naked self-portraits, perhaps this will drive the point home.

Federal authorities announced last week that 14 young women had been blackmailed by a former congressional intern.

Adam Savader, 21, from Great Neck, N.Y., allegedly targeted college students, many of them former high school classmates, from May 2012 through February 2013.

According to an FBI affidavit, Savader hacked into private Internet accounts trolling for nude pictures usually only meant for the women's boyfriends.

Savader, who was a campaign intern for Paul Ryan, would post the pictures to a photo-sharing website and send a link to his intended victims.

In profanity-laced texts to his victims routed through an anonymous Google Voice account, he threaten to send those pictures to his victims' parents and others unless they sent him more naked self-portraits, according to the affidavit obtained by Philly.com.

According to an FBI agent's sworn statement, one of Savader's targets received this lengthy text:

Do it from ur phone RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! I swear to god don't be stupid. U don't want every1 [sic] including your parents seeing your tits, ass and ... Accept it now!! This is what I will send ur mom with the pics unless u accept now "thought u would want to see these pics of your baby girl. They're very revealing. About to send them to every1 so she is a star."

His threats varied. On one occasion, he claimed to have naked photos of a woman's mother, telling his victim he would "ruin your moms [sic] life" if the younger woman didn't submit to his demands. On another occasion, in October 2012, he vowed he would turn over naked pictures to the woman's sorority and the Republican National Committee.

At least two of the women reported the incidents to authorities. Police in Ann Arbor, Michigan referred the case to the FBI which then traced the texts to a telephone account listed in the name of Savader's father, according to the FBI agent.

Savader is in federal custody in New York on blackmail charges. Because the threats were first reported in Ann Arbor, he will be tried in Michigan, authorities said.