BENTON, Ill. – A U.S. District Court Judge sentenced a Mill Shoals man to 75 year in federal prison on Monday after he was found guilty of conducting a sextortion scheme on Facebook with multiple victims ranging in ages from 11-17 years old.
In November of 2022, Michael Ferris, 44 of Mill Shoals was convicted on twenty-five counts of extortion, cyberstalking and production, distribution, and possession of child pornography. Following his prison sentence, he will serve the rest of his life on supervised release.
“Michael Ferris intentionally sought out young girls with exploitable past trauma for his own callous pleasure, and his coercive crimes caused devastating and long-lasting suffering for his victims,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “I appreciate the work by the investigative agencies to offer justice to the defendant’s victims.”
“Combating child exploitation is a team effort and requires cooperation at the federal, state and local levels,” said HSI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Sean Fitzgerald. “The efforts to bring this individual to justice have resulted in one less predator on the streets who would look to victimize our children and endanger our communities.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ferris targeted teenage girls on Facebook and engaged in a pattern of extortion, commonly known as “sextortion” from at least March 2020 until November 2020.
As part of his scheme, Ferris created fake Facebook personas appearing to be teenage girls. He joined Facebook groups for teenagers or young survivors of sexual abuse. Ferris sent unsolicited messages to teenage girls under the guise of being a peer looking to make a new friend. If the teens responded, Ferris tried to convince them to send a nude photograph or answer personal questions about themselves. Ferris then used that information as leverage to coerce them into sending more explicit photos, answering more sexual questions, or performing sexual acts while Ferris watched on video chat. If his victims refused to comply, or pleaded to stop, Ferris harassed and threatened them until they kept going, usually threatening to send the girls’ photos or answers to personal questions to their friends, parents, police, or child protective services. Even after Ferris’ victims complied with his demands, he would often still distribute their sexually explicit images to friends and family.
The investigation was conducted by agents from Homeland Security Investigations—Springfield with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations domestic and international offices, Jackson County Oregon Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Illinois Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, and Aurora Missouri Police Department. Victim and Witness Support was provided by the U.S. Attorneys’ Office from the Southern District of Illinois, the Eastern District of Missouri, and Homeland Security Investigations.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ali Burns and Luke Weissler prosecuted the case.
