A 21-year-old Thousand Oaks man was sentenced to nearly two decades in state prison for sexually extorting two minors he met online.
Connor Joseph Kerns was sentenced Tuesday to 19 years in prison after his Feb. 2 guilty plea to three felony charges: forcible rape, forcible oral copulation on a minor over 14 years old and forcible sexual acts on a minor under 14.
The victim, a 16-year-old girl, and Kerns met through Snapchat in July 2021.
Kerns and the victim had multiple conversations and Kerns, who “was aware she was underage,” “eventually coerced her into sending him sexually provocative pictures of herself,” the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
“Days later, another Snapchat user with the name Dexter—who in reality was Kerns—contacted the victim, saying he had hacked Kerns’ Snapchat account, and threatened to post the victim’s provocative pictures online unless she agreed to send him nude photos/videos of herself,” the release added. “Scared she would get in trouble, the victim complied.”
Kerns then used the Dexter account to “demand that the victim engage in numerous sexual acts in person with Kerns,” the release said.
“Hoping to end the abuse, the victim again complied out of fear,” officials said. “Over the next several days, Dexter would make more demands of the victim, which ultimately led her to contact law enforcement.”
Kerns followed the same methods with another victim, a 13-year-old girl from Los Angeles County, a few months later in January 2022, though when he threatened to release the sexually explicit images if the victim did not follow additional demands, the girl told her parents, who then reported it to the Los Angeles Police Department.
“The severity of this sentence highlights the defendant’s appalling crimes while demonstrating the perils of social media,” Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Moreno said in the release. “The defendant sexually exploited vulnerable young girls, inflicting irreparable harm in the process. This sentence sends a clear message that such despicable acts won’t be tolerated, and sexual predators will face full prosecution. We hope it serves as a reminder to parents to stay vigilant and discuss social media risks with their children.”