An Illinois man admitted in federal court to sexually exploiting gay men online in a multi-state scheme.
Omoruyi Uwadiae, 28, entered guilty pleas Wednesday to 22 criminal charges, including cyberstalking, in U.S. District Court in Ohio. He will be sentenced at a later date.
As part of a plea agreement, the Chicago man admitted to eight counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of interstate communications with the intent to extort and seven counts of unlawfully using a means of identification.
Each cyberstalking count carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, as do the unlawful use of identification charges. The extortion charges carry a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment each.
According to court records, Uwadiae communicated with at least eight victims online in 2019. In each instance, Uwadiae would connect with the young men on social media or a dating application like Grindr that targeted gay men and begin communicating with the victim.
Court records said the victims would communicate consensually with Uwadiae and send him sexually explicit photos or videos.
After receiving the images or videos, Uwadiae would then threaten the victims, some of whom had not disclosed their sexual orientations to their families or publicly. Uwadiae would tell them that he would send the photos or videos to friends, family members or employers and followed through at least once on those threats, according to court records, sending pictures to a victim’s mother and siblings.
In other instances, court records say, Uwadiae demanded money while threatening to release images or videos of his victims.
If the victim refused to pay, Uwadiae demanded they meet up with him for a sexual encounter or force them to make incriminating statements, such as admitting to being racist, for further virtual ammunition to keep them under control.
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Court records say Uwadiae targeted at least one Ohio State University student, whom he met through Grindr. Uwadiae demanded $200 or sex. When the student didn’t comply, Uwadiae made fake social media accounts using the victim’s name and actual photos of the victim, outing him as bisexual to his family.
Uwadiae created fake social media accounts for other victims as well, according to court records. In some instances, Uwadiae posted photographs of the victims on “Male General,” a blog targeting young gay men, court records say.
Victims are spread across multiple states, including Ohio, Colorado and Washington, court records say.
bbruner@gannett.com
