BYU Student Charged In Sex Extortion Case

(Provo, UT) — A BYU student is facing charges in a sextortion case involving a 16-year-old girl. Prosecutors say 20-year-old Benjamin Shields was charged Monday with aggravated sexual extortion of a child after he allegedly offered the teen money for nude pictures and then threatened to expose her if she did not send more despite the teen never receiving any payment. According to reports, Shields offered the girl 46-thousand-dollars for an explicit video chat with her before offering 50-to-100-dollars for pictures. After further investigation, police learned that the BYU student had done the same routine with multiple girls as young as eleven years old. In addition to aggravated sexual extortion, Shields was also charged with aggravated sexual extortion and sexual exploitation of a minor.