The FBI believes there might be more victims of a New York man who was arrested in April and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and making extortionate interstate communications in a case that involves a Ketchikan youth via the instant messaging app Snapchat.
Cameron McEwen, 21, was arrested in Middletown, New York on April 25, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. His previous criminal record includes a 2022 conviction of second-degree rape.
According to U.S. District Attorney’s Office information and the FBI’s criminal complaint filed in White Plains (New York) Federal Court, McEwen persuaded a 16-year-old Ketchikan girl to take photos and videos of herself engaging in sexually explicit activity and send them to McEwen via Snapchat. McEwen allegedly threatened to hack her cell phone and Snapchat account if she did not send sexually explicit material to him, accoding to the complaint.
On May 1, the FBI announced that it is searching for other possible victims in its investigation of McEwen, who used the online aliases of X, Cam, dzys.world, itsbeendrippy, fendii, fendii.kashout, ny.cam01 and Dizzyyyy.xo.
“We ask anyone with information to contact us at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov and reference this case,” stated the FBI announcement.
McEwen allegedly initially had contact with an 18-year-old individual on Snapchat and offered to pay her for making and sending sexually explicit images and videos, according to the probable cause statement and U.S. Attorney’s Office information.
He allegedly introduced her to another of his aliases in order to set up a bank account to transmit the payments, according to the probable cause statement. She provided her full name and Social Security number for the bank account.
After she did so, McEwen allegedly sent her messages via Snapchat threatening to hack her phone, “put her in debt” and harm her if she didn’t start sending sexually explicit material, according to the probable cause statement.
Once she sent the requested material, McEwen allegedly “threatened to leak the images and videos to the individual’s family and friends and harm her if she did not find another person to send McEwen sexually explicit photos and videos,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office information.
The 18-year-old sought out the 16-year-old Ketchikan girl, who, at the 18-year-old’s request, added “X” to her Snapchat account in early April, according to the probable cause statement.
After being added to the account, McEwen, using the X alias, communicated that he would hack the 16-year-old’s Snapchat account and cell phone if she did not send sexually explicit images and videos to their chat on Snapchat, according to the probable cause statement. In response to the demand, she produced and sent several items.
The Ketchikan Police Department on April 4 received a report about contact on Snapchat between a 16-year-old minor and a male using the Snapchat display name X and user account name itsbeendrippy, according to the probable cause statement. A KPD investigator interviewed the minor, and the FBI later spoke with the investigator and reviewed KPD reports as part of its investigation.
The FBI used Snapchat records for the Internet Protocol history of the Snapchat logins used by some of McEwen’s alleged aliases, tracking back to a particular IP address that was active during the periods of contact with the Ketchikan minor. The IP address was linked to a residential address in New York, where McEwen, who currently is on probation for the 2022 rape case, resides.
A U.S. magistrate judge on April 21 issued a search warrant for the residential address, according to the probable cause statement
Based on the results from that search and a subsequent FBI interview of McEwen, he was arrested and charged with one count each of sexual exploitation of a minor and making extortionate interstate communications.
In an announcement following the arrest, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams noted that McEwen was on probation for a rape conviction “when he allegedly continued to commit sexually abusive and vile crimes, including with a minor victim.
“This case underlines the urgent need for law enforcement to continue its efforts to protect children from those who prey upon them, and this Office is committed to safeguarding children from these predators,” Williams said.
Following the May 1 announcement by the FBI’s New York Office regarding the potential of additional victims, the agency’s Anchorage Field Office relayed the information to the Ketchikan Daily News and other media.