MIAMI – The FBI is searching for hundreds of sextortion victims they believe were targeted by a Jacksonville man who was recently sentenced to 105 years in prison.
Lucas Michael Chansler, 26, pleaded guilty last year to multiple counts of child pornography production, and detectives believe he targeted nearly 350 girls.
So far, investigators have identified 109 of Chansler's victims, but said they still have about 250 teens who have not been identified and likely do not know that Chansler is behind bars.
Some of the underage girls are believed to live in the South Florida area, including in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.
According to the FBI, Chansler pretended to be 15-year-old boys and trolled various popular online sites to meet girls.
Detectives said once Chansler convinced a girl to send him an explicit photo, he would create other online aliases and threaten to post the victims' photos if they did not send him more naked pictures of themselves.
Ashley Reynolds, now 20, said she fell for Chansler's ploy in late 2008 when she was 14 years old. Reynolds told authorities that she initially ignored Chansler's threats, but he somehow found out her phone number and began threatening her via text message. She said the texts scared her and she thought she had no other choice but to comply with his demands.
Reynolds' parents eventually found the images on her computer and notified authorities, which led to Chansler's arrest.
Anyone who believes they were victimized by Chansler or has a child who was victimized by Chansler is asked to call the FBI at 754-703-2000.
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