Man pleads guilty in Bucks County sextortion case; admitted to harassing 15 victims
The allegations went back as far as 2016 with victims ranging in age from 12 to 19 years old.
BENSALEM, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Bucks County man who was accused of sexually extorting victims as young as 12 years old pleaded guilty Tuesday.
Ian Pisarchuk was arrested in June 2021 after one of his alleged victims came forward.
On Tuesday, he admitted to harassing 15 victims between 2016 and 2021 over Snapchat. He would threaten the victims until they sent him sexually explicit photos and videos.
Pisarchuk pleaded guilty to multiple counts each of enticing a minor to produce child pornography, possession of child pornography, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, sexual extortion, stalking, terroristic threats, harassment, and cyber harassment of a child, officials said.
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Combined, he pleaded guilty to 67 counts. Officials said Pisarchuk's sentencing will be deferred 90 days as he undergoes an evaluation by the Sex Offender Assessment Board.
"I applaud the survivors of this defendant's insidious attempts to ruin their lives for their bravery," District Attorney Matt Weintraub said. "He extorted his victims through his criminal actions. Now it is he who will pay the price, not them."
The investigation began in October of 2020 when an underaged victim came to Bensalem police.
According to an affidavit, Pisarchuk told one victim in 2019: "I know where you live. I know where your parents live. I will kill you if you do not follow my instructions and listen to me."
He would tell victims to provide more explicit photos or he would release the one he already had.
Police say Pisarchuk admitted to investigators that he harassed 21-year-old Lindsey Piccone to the point where she sent sexual photos in September of 2016.
The affidavit states: "...she was contacted by an unknown Snapchat user on September 5, 2016, who threatened to ruin her life, expose and blackmail her."
Her body was found that November at a Bucks County state park. Piccone's suicide note read, "Before someone else ruins my life, I'm going to ruin mine."
At the time, Pisarchuk was a football player at Kutztown University and the IP address that connected to his conversations with Piccone was too broad for authorities to determine who was responsible.
