SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — "They are coming after our young children and as parents, we need to do everything we can to prepare them and try and prevent this," said Jennifer Buta, the mother of 17-year-old Jordan Demay.
Buta and Jordan's father John Demay were in Grand Rapids Monday to attend the the first appearance in federal court of two of the three men involved in an international "sextortion" ring that targeted their son and so many young people across Michigan and the country, according to federal investigators.
Samuel Ogoshi, 22, and his brother Samson Ogoshi, 20, both of Lagos, Nigeria, were extradited from Nigeria and arrived in Michigan Sunday to face prosecution for allegedly sexually extorting a number of young men and teenage boys in Michigan and across the United States.
A third man from Nigeria, 19-year-old Ezekiel Ejehem Robert, is also charged in the case and is currently going through the extradition process in Nigeria.
But it's Samuel Ogoshi who is also charged with sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death in connection with Jordan Demay's death. The maximum penalty for that charge is life in prison and a statutory mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison.
Jordan Demay's dad said it's clear the men's plot to exploit children and teens like his son for money took great deliberation and intention.
Federal investigators said Samuel Ogoshi posed as a young woman on Instagram to solicit a sexually explicit image of Jordan Demay and then took that image and made a collage that he then threatened to share on the internet if Jordan didn't send him over a thousand dollars.
And in a span of less than six hours, Jordan Demay would be threatened and tormented to the point that he told the person via messaging on social media that he was going to kill himself if they didn't stop. The person responded by writing, "good.. do it fast.. or I'll make you do it."
"They pushed and pushed and pushed and never let him up for air at all at any point," Jordan Demay's dad said. "It was constant pressure, constant stress. They did everything they could to make him feel like this was all happening. They were making him feel like they were sending these pictures to his friends' mothers and his friends and everybody in his orbit."
Jordan Demay's parents are now encouraging other parents and young people to learn about sextortion and the risks of engaging with strangers online.
"If it's happening, just shut your computer," John Demay said. "They pressure you so much to think that it's happening and it's never going to stop. As soon as you close your laptop, it stops."
According to the FBI, the number of extortion cases involving children and teens being threatened and coerced into sending explicit images online has more than doubled since the pandemic.
But thanks to the Marquette County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI and investigators in Nigeria, federal investigators said they now have a road map to prosecuting these cases that, for so long, have been difficult to prosecute.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Devin Kowalski said, "Charges of this type brought against subjects outside of the United States are rare. Securing extradition of these subjects is even more rare."
Kowalski urges anyone who is or becomes a victim to contact law enforcement immediately and do not delete any conversations or payments that may have been made because it will be part of a trail of evidence that will be crucial for an investigation.
"Please don't make the mistake of thinking that it can't happen to your child, that your child would never do this," Jordan Demay's mom. "We didn't know about sextortion and we definitely never thought that we would lose our son over a scam like this."
If you have information about or believe you are a victim of sextortion, contact your local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI or report it online at tips.fbi.gov.
The U.S. Department of Justice offers the following safety tips:
- Be selective about what you share online. If your social media accounts are open to everyone, a predator may be able to figure out a lot of information about you.
- Be wary of anyone you encounter for the first time online. Block or ignore messages from strangers.
- Be aware that people can pretend to be anything or anyone online. Videos and photos are not proof that people are who they claim to be. Images can be altered or stolen. In some cases, predators have even taken over the social media accounts of their victims.
- Be suspicious if you meet someone on one game or app and that person asks you to start talking on a different platform.
- Be in the know. Any content you create online — whether it is a text message, photo, or video — can be made public. And nothing actually “disappears” online. Once you send something, you don’t have any control over where it goes next.
- Be willing to ask for help. If you are getting messages or requests online that don’t seem right, block the sender, report the behavior to the site administrator, or go to an adult. If you have been victimized online, tell someone. Being a victim of sextortion is not your fault. You can get through this challenge, even if it seems scary and overwhelming. There are people who want to help.
