I would have never thought in a million years
I would be a victim of sextortion.
It all started when I was 14.
I met a girl named Erin on an instant messaging app.
She was around my age, around 15, 16 years old.
At that time, I really had no friends
and I was really desperate.
At first, it started off with normal conversations,
then Erin said if I sent her pictures of me in my underwear,
she would send me gift cards to my favorite stores.
Then it escalated to full on pictures
of me being nude and videos.
I thought it was very strange, but I kept doing it
'cause I was really desperate.
I sent over 1,000 pictures and 20 videos.
It completely spiraled out of control.
She kept harassing me and I had no idea how to stop it.
I hated myself and I was very depressed.
I started cutting like every single week.
I sent her a picture of my arm, begging her to stop.
She said she was sorry, but she needed more pictures.
She would threaten to come to my house
and post pictures on my door and my neighbor's
with all my personal information on it.
I ended up trying to commit suicide
because of what she was doing to me.
The day I finally had the courage to block her,
I received a message on the same app from a guy named Mark
with my nude pictures and personal information.
And he soon started using Erin's tactics,
demanding more and more pictures.
I sent almost 500 pictures to him
and a couple videos to him.
I felt extremely trapped, I felt like it was the end for me.
Well Katie's secret was finally revealed,
but only when the FBI made a shocking visit to her home.
A year after I finally blocked Mark and Erin,
the FBI came to my house.
The FBI told me that apparently Mark was doing this
to other girls and they called the police.
The FBI found him, they also found my pictures
and all my personal information
and they knew immediately who I was.
On top of all that, they told me that Mark and Erin
were the same exact person the entire time.
As I was listening in, I was utterly shocked.
I just wanted to throw up.
Because of this, she self harmed,
tried to commit suicide, and has even overdosed.
I feel like I can't do anything right.
I will never fully get over what happened to me.
Words are very powerful and the last thing you said
on that tape is, I will never get over this.
Yeah.
And you're exactly right
as long as you keep telling yourself that.
So we're gonna talk about that as we go along.
I just couldn't let that slide before get along.
Okay.
Okay, now, good to meet you guys.
You too.
Back to that, did you have any clue at the time?
Absolutely none.
None?
This was like, just off the radar.
1,000 pictures, 20 videos.
Where did you think she was?
What did you think she was doing?
Well, she'd be, most of this happened in her bedroom.
When he would call or text her, I'll give you 10 minutes,
you gotta send me 25 pictures with a big smile on your face.
She would be, go up to her room, go in the bathroom
and so I mean, yeah.
But you never looked at her phone
and you never conceived that she would do something
like this 'cause it wasn't part of her character otherwise.
Oh, no.
This person that you were sending the photos to,
we now know this was a man.
At the time, you thought it was a girl about your age.
Yeah, sadly.
Okay, and you said she, Erin, would flip out
if you sent photos in the same pose, right?
Yes.
What did you think when you heard that?
I though she was crazy.
And you kept taking and sending the pictures why?
'Cause then I felt trapped
and I didn't really know what to do.
What made you send the first picture?
I really wanted to have a friend,
female friend that I could really trust.
And I thought I could trust her,
even though I never met her.