LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Southern California man who convinced troubled girls as young as 12 to perform masochistic acts and urged one to become his sex slave pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge, prosecutors said.
Matthew Christian Locher, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing a sexually explicit visual depiction, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.
In his plea agreement, prosecutors said Locher acknowledged that while living in Redondo Beach in 2020 and 2021, Locher got into online conversations targeting girls suffering from mental health issues such as depression, anorexia and suicidal thoughts.
“Locher groomed his victims to engage in self-mutilation and instructed a victim struggling with an eating disorder to starve herself, ordering her to film herself cutting her body when she disobeyed him,” the U.S. attorney’s office statement said.
People are also reading…
Two girls sent him images of self-harm, prosecutors said.
He convinced a third victim, who was 12, to run away from her Ohio home and attempt to reach California to have sex with him, prosecutors alleged.
Encouraged by Locher, the girl first set fire to her home in a failed bid to kill her parents, prosecutors alleged.
Locher had promised he would pick her up, “bring her to California, and make her his ‘slave,’ ” the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Locher moved to Indiana after authorities searched his home. He was arrested on Jan. 10 of this year in Indianapolis and sent back to California, authorities said.
Locher faces 15 years to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced next January.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Health News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
