Student accused of blackmail using Facebook

An 18-year-old high school student has been charged with sexual assault after he allegedly posed as a girl on the social networking Internet site Facebook, made classmates send him naked photos and blackmailed them into performing sex acts.
Anthony Stancl of New Berlin, Wisconsin, has been charged with five counts of child enticement, two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, two counts of third-degree sexual assault, possession of child pornography, repeated sexual assault of the same child and making a bomb threat.
The incidents occurred from mid-2007 until the time of Stancl’s arrest in November last year.
The investigation into Stancl began after bomb threats in November led to the closure of his school, New Berlin Eisenhower Middle/High School.
Police said the threats were sent via email from a computer that Stancl was logged into at a public library.
More than 300 naked photos and movie clips of his classmates, as well as professionally made pornographic movies of children, were allegedly found on Stancl’s computer. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 17 or 18 years of age at the time of the assaults, the complaint said.
Stancl first contacted the students through the social networking site Facebook, pretending to be a girl.
Male students contacted by Stancl claim they were tricked into sending nude photos or videos of themselves.
Thirty one victims were identified and interviewed and more than half said the girl with whom they were communicating tried to get them to meet with a male friend in order to perform sex acts.
They were told that if they didn’t, she would send the nude photos or movies to their friends and post them on the Internet, according to the complaint.
“We know from experience how damaging sexual abuse on children can be,” said Waukesha County district attorney Brad Schimel.
“We are particularly concerned in this case because of the sheer number of kids that are all in one school.”
A preliminary hearing for Stancl has been scheduled for February 26.
Stancl’s attorney, Craig Kuhary, said Stancl plans to initially plead not guilty to the charges.