Boston 25 News reports that 22‑year‑old Matthew Murphy from Whitman was arrested for sexually exploiting children through Snapchat. Court documents reveal he created a fake teenage‑girl account, contacted nearly 400 minors, and extorted nude photos and videos by threatening to expose them. Over 1,000 images and 200 videos were seized. Victims, including a 14‑year‑old boy, pleaded for the abuse to stop. Neighbors expressed shock at the investigation. Robert Siciliano of Safer.me explained the scheme as "sextortion," a form of cyber manipulation. The segment highlights the legal charges, the scale of the abuse, and the broader impact on victims' lives and community safety.
A Whitman man is accused of using Snapchat to extort nude pictures from hundreds of teenagers. New at 11, Boston 25 News reporter Julie Leonardi is live in Whitman. Prosecutors there say he threatened his victims into giving him more and more pictures.
Mark, that's right. Well, he was posing as a teenage girl on Snapchat, according to federal court documents, and then would get more photos from his victims by threatening them and telling those victims that he would leak those photos everywhere. 22-year-old Matthew Murphy now arrested and charged for sexually exploiting children through Snapchat. Federal court documents say Murphy posed as a teenage girl on the app and extorted nude photos from a 14-year-old boy by threatening to share them with his school. Robert Siciliano of Safer.me, a Boston-based security awareness firm, says this type of cyber manipulation is known as sextortion.
Uh, people's lives being ruined, their information being posted online, uh, reputations —being soiled.
Court documents show conversations with the boy in the suspect's fraudulent account. The victim begs Murphy to stop. Murphy says, "What is your decision?" The victim says, "What are the choices? Please, no. I'll do anything." Court docs say Murphy admitted to using the fake account and communicated with nearly 400 individuals—most, if not all, minors. Documents say included in the search warrant return were more than 1,000 image files and more than 200 video files that were exchanged exchanged by or with the suspect account, many depicting sexually explicit material. Neighbors say they were shocked when investigators searched the home.
Why would this happen? I mean, the nicest kid you'd ever want to meet.
Neighbors say Murphy was an Eagle Scout and volunteered with local Boy Scouts. Boston 25 reached out to the organization. This is what they had to say: This individual's behavior is reprehensible and runs counter to everything for which the Boy Scouts of America stands. Upon learning of these reports, we removed this individual and prohibited him from any future participation in scouting. Now, only a few victims were named in court documents, but investigators believe that a lot more will come forward. Live tonight in Whitman, Julie Leonardi, Boston 25 News.
