Cyberstalker Marine Busted Harassing Women 'Sextortion,' Blackmail Scheme

A former active-duty member of the U.S. Marine Corps pleaded guilty on Friday to extorting and threatening women to send him sexually-explicit photographs under the threat of revealing them to their friends and family members.

Johao Miguel Chavarri, a 25-year-old man who also went by the name Michael Frito, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of cyberstalking women between 2019 and 2021 while he was actively on duty in Camp Pendleton in California, according to the New York Daily News.

Court documents released at the time showed that Chavarri stalked women online and then messaged them to compliment them about their photos. He would then suggest to the women that they should start a relationship where he paid for them to send him nude videos or photos, a Justice Department press release reported.

Some of the victims agreed initially to the requests and gave Chavarri “nude, sexually explicit, or compromising photos,” which he then threatened to post publicly or send to the victims’ family and friends if they refused to comply with his requests for more.

Victims who refused to send him photos or to communicate with him online were harassed and extorted using multiple anonymous accounts where he threatened to distribute the photographs and videos to online websites or to their family, friends, and employers. When threatening them, he would often name the victims’ close relations as a threat.

“In most cases, he threatened to publish sexual photos and videos of the victims online or on well-known pornography websites and/or to distribute the sexual photos or videos to the victims’ boyfriends, friends, families, or employers — people he often specifically identified by name,” a statement from the Department of Justice said.

“Chavarri threatened his victims and their friends and family that he would ruin their lives,” the statement continued.

Chavarri will be sentenced on Sept.15, where he could potentially receive up to five years of prison for each charge of cyberstalking that he faces.