North Texas man pretended to be teen on Instagram to get nude photos of minors, feds say
A 12-year-old boy in North Carolina sent naked pictures of himself over Instagram to an account he believed was being run by a 12-year-old girl.
However, the boy was communicating with 30-year-old Latodd Detray Alexander of Lancaster, Texas, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Dallas division of the U.S. District Court.
Alexander, according to the complaint, portrayed himself as a young girl under the name “hotgirl8887” on Instagram in order to get boys between the ages of 10 and 17 to send him nude photos of themselves. Alexander would gain their trust by sending the boys photos he found of nude girls, according to the complaint.
Officers with the Lancaster Police Department began investigating Alexander after they were contacted by officers from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina in December.
The 12-year-old boy told authorities that after he sent Alexander nude photos of himself, Alexander asked him to go to his younger sister’s room and expose his genitals to her. Alexander also gave the boy instructions to perform various sexual acts with the girl while filming the encounter, according to the complaint.
The boy told investigators that he refused and became nervous, so he told an adult about his conversations with hotgirl8887.
In November, a detective received information from a search warrant for the Instagram account and discovered that several boys had sent the account nude photos of themselves. Alexander would ask the boys to perform sexual acts on their siblings and when they refused, he would threaten to release their nude photographs by posting them to the Instagram profile, according to the complaint.
A search warrant for the IP address associated with the account returned an address in the 900 block of Sycamore Lane in Lancaster, Texas, which eventually led investigators to Alexander, the complaint says. When investigators served a search warrant at Alexander’s house, the complaint says he admitted to using the Instagram account to get nude photos of underage boys.
Alexander is charged in federal court with production of child pornography and receipt of child pornography. He was arrested on Feb. 7 and given a court appointed attorney. He was indicted on Wednesday.
This story was originally published February 14, 2019 at 1:57 PM.
