A 19-year-old registered sex offender from Fairmont, Minn., pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to accusations that he extorted two children to produce child pornography for him.
According to indictment unsealed last week in Minnesota federal court, Dylan Matthew Deling coerced a minor in May 2018 into sexual conduct "for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct," that he later mailed.
In July 2018, Deling threatened to kidnap and injure a child and her parents if she did not provide him with sexually explicit images.
The U.S. Attorney's Office called it a case of "sextortion."
"As the cyber threat landscape continues to evolve, sextortion crimes are becoming more prevalent through the use of social media platforms and messaging apps," U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said in a statement.
Deling was charged with extortion, commission of a felony offense by a registered sex offender and attempting to produce child pornography.
Deling was convicted of possessing child pornography in Nicollet County in March 2018.
