GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay has pled guilty to a charge of sexual exploitation of a child.
According to federal prosecutors, 29-year-old Joseph J. Valdez used a smartphone to talk “hundreds” of underage girls into sending him sexually explicit photos of themselves.
Valdez claimed to be a modeling agent and used text messages and the messaging app Kik to contact girls as young as 9.
Prosecutors say after getting the photos, Valdez would often blackmail the victims into sending more graphic images by threatening to forward the images he already had to the girls’ parents, friends and school administrators. Investigators indicate that this caused several of the girls to threaten suicide.
Prosecutors say the girls came from across the U.S., including some in Northeast Wisconsin.
Valdez faces 15 to 30 years in prison and at least 5 years of supervised release. He’s currently behind bars and will be sentenced on June 22.
