HARTFORD, Conn., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A North Carolina camp counselor admitted in federal court he used campers' Web site postings to coerce them to give him sexually graphic material.
Jason Betensky, 27, of Philadelphia, could face up to 15 years in prison, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Wednesday.
The lawsuit in Hartford indicated Betensky befriended the campers, all of whom were boys, when he worked as a counselor at the unidentified camp from 2003 to 2007, the Courant reported.
Betensky persuaded children as young as 15 to give him sexually explicit images of themselves. If a camper stopped providing images, Betensky threatened to send the material he already had gathered to the boy's friends and family members, the Courant reported.
Betensky was accused of threatening and obtaining such videos of at least nine minors. His plea bargain allowed him to plead guilty to one count of using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity.
