JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Jacksonville man has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison on extortion and child pornography charges.
Joshua Jay Williamson, 24, also got a 10-year term of supervised release for making extortionate threats over the Internet and possessing images and videos of child pornography. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender and forfeit his computer media.
According to court documents, Williamson used a computer to threaten about 75 women over the Internet from February 2011 to June 2011. He transmitted these threats with the intent to extort sexually explicit photographic images from these women. Williamson hacked into email and social networking accounts to get personal information about them, including sexually suggestive and provocative photographs. He emailed the victims, demanding they send him nude and sexually explicit photos.
An investigation found Williamson's computer had folders titled in the names of nearly 150 different women. Many of the folders contained photographs of the women, as well as their personal information. Approximately 23 images and 31 videos of child pornography were also found on his computer.
