Ada County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested an 18-year-old Boise man who posed as someone else online to coerce a teenage girl into sending him nude photos last month.
Michael Anthony Hall is charged with three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child and a charge of theft by extortion in connection with the case.
ACSO deputies began their investigation Oct. 2 after getting a report about telephone harassment — how someone unknown to the girl told her he would put embarrassing information about her on the Internet unless she sent him nude photos.
The teen eventually did send some photos after getting scared by the threats the unknown person was making. The girl told her parents a short time later about what was going on, and they contacted deputies.
Detectives later determined that the messages came from Hall, who knew the girl but used a cell phone application that made it look like text messages came from a different phone number.
Ada County prosecutors issued an arrest warrant on the four felonies for Hall Wednesday. He turned himself in at the Ada County Jail Thursday afternoon, where he is being held on a $250,000 bond.
The crime of felony sexual exploitation of a child is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Anyone convicted of that charge would also have to register as a sex offender.
Hall will make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon.
Victim witness coordinators with the ACSO are providing support for the girl and her family as part of the investigation.