Marine used fake social media accounts to threaten women for nude photos in CA, feds say
An active-duty Marine at Camp Pendleton in California is accused of threatening women to get nude photos and videos on social media, federal officials said.
Johao Miguel Chavarri, 25, of Oceanside was arrested on Feb. 8 on stalking charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California said in a news release.
From 2019 through 2021, Chavarri is accused of making fake social media accounts with the alias of “Michael Frito” to “stalk, harass and threaten women” for nude photos and videos, the release states.
Prosecutors called it a “sextortion” campaign.
Chavarri is a lance corporal in the 1st Marine Division, according to 2nd Lt. Ramarro Lamar from Camp Pendleton. He said officials are “closely monitoring” the case.
“The Division is committed to justice and the rule of law and is fully cooperating with the investigating agencies,” Lamar told McClatchy News.
If the women didn’t respond to Chavarri’s messages or refused to send him more photos, he would threaten to post their photos and videos on Pornhub or send them to their friends, family and social media followers, prosecutors said in the criminal complaint.
Chavarri targeted women who lived or had lived in Torrance, the city where he went to high school, the complaint states. Investigators said he cyberstalked about 11 women.
He typically messaged women on Instagram to compliment their photos and appearance. Then he would tell the women he would pay them to send photos and videos — first requesting shots of their feet, investigators said in the complaint.
Once a woman sent him some photos, he would ask for more graphic and sexually explicit images and videos, the complaint says.
When the women refused to send more photos or message him back, he tried to extort them, investigators said.
He is accused of telling the women he would ruin their lives and careers with the images they had previously sent him, the complaint says.
“I am going to spend my whole life ruining your life’s,” Chavarri messaged one woman.
He faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison if convicted of his charge.
If you are a victim in this case or know someone who is, contact the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at 310-477-6565.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Marine used fake social media accounts to threaten women for nude photos in CA, feds say."
