Registered sex offender convicted of “sextortion” of more than 100 children

A Nevada man has been sentenced to 65 years in prison, followed by life probation, for sexually abusing over 100 children through Omegle, Snapchat, TikTok and Mega, and for distributing child sexual abuse material on dark web forums.

From 2018 to 2021, James Patrick Burns used multiple platforms to contact minors and coerce or threaten them into creating sexually explicit content, according to court documents presented at trial. Prosecutors called Burns the “most prolific creator” of illegal content on these forums during the years he was active.

Snap last month introduced new features designed to protect teen users from sextortion scams. The features include in-app alerts when teens receive messages from users who have blocked or reported others, and automatic blocking of friend requests for accounts that have a “history of accessing Snapchat in locations commonly associated with scam activity.”

The video chat service Omegle was regularly criticized for enabling child sexual abuse before its closure in 2023. In late 2021, an 11-year-old girl filed a lawsuit against Omegle, claiming that the matching system had matched her with a man who had sexually abused her.

In a statement about Omegle’s closure, founder Leif K-Brooks said the platform’s operation was no longer “financially or psychologically” sustainable.

“There can be no honest reckoning with Omegle without acknowledging that some people have abused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes,” K-Brooks wrote at the time.

The FBI has identified a “huge increase” in online sextortion scams, particularly those targeting children and minors. Perpetrators often threaten children or teens by claiming they will release sexually explicit photos of them if they do not send them money or more explicit content. According to the FBI, these scams have “resulted in an alarming number of suicides.”

Burns, 55, was found guilty in March of eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, eight counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, and one count each of advertising, receiving, distributing and possessing child pornography. Because Burns was already a registered sex offender at the time of the crimes, he was also convicted of committing certain crimes while required to register as a sex offender. In addition to his prison sentence, he must pay more than $100,000 in restitution and fees.

Many of Burns’ victims have yet to be identified, according to a Justice Department news release. Burns first came to law enforcement’s attention after a victim’s mother saw threatening messages on her child’s phone and reported them to police, prosecutors said.