A Chicago man has been arrested on federal charges, accused of convincing a 14-year-old girl in a Boston suburb to send him sexually explicit videos of herself on Snapchat.
Joshua Rogers, 30, is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children. Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said he was arrested Wednesday morning in Chicago. His first court appearance in Boston has not yet been scheduled.
According to the charges, in July, a 14-year-old girl’s parents notified police in Brookline – a few miles west of Boston – that their daughter had been talking to a predator online, after they discovered sexually explicit videos on her on her Spapchat account.
An investigation revealed the girl had been chatting with Rogers on Snapchat, and he had been posing as a 17-year-old boy named “John,” who lived in Boston, and when she asked to meet him in person, he would tell her to first send him sexually explicit videos of herself.
In one conversation online, after the girl asked Rogers if he was going to “come get me,” he told her it was important to know she would “do anything,” and explained he needed to see how far he could push her, because if she wasn’t willing to do something over the phone, she wouldn’t do it when they were together in person.
According to the charges, the girl sent Rogers at least seven nude and sexually explicit videos of herself, and later called Rogers on the Signal app, after which he texted her that he loved her and that she “did so good.”
Federal prosecutors said Rogers also discussed either kidnapping the girl, or the girl running away from home.
Investigators were able to trace the messages to Rogers’ home in Chicago.
If convicted of the sexual exploitation charge, Rogers could face 15 to 30 years in prison.
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