A Benton man whose attorney described him as someone who "never grew up" rather than predatory was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in prison for creating fake online personas to trick girls and women into sending him nude photographs of themselves.
Joshua Reile of Benton, who will turn 28 next month, admitted in November that in addition to luring the victims into false friendships that they believed were with another female, he would later retaliate against those who discovered he was an impostor by threatening to post their nude photographs on their Facebook pages or otherwise disseminate the photos. In at least one case, he did post nude photographs that he had copied off the phone of a woman's ex-boyfriend and texted the photos to her employer.
In return for the dismissal of several other charges and the recommended 17-year sentence, he pleaded guilty Nov. 9 to federal charges of extortion and attempted production of child pornography. The dropped charges included electronic stalking, production of child pornography and lying to a federal agent -- the latter for initially denying that he had impersonated anyone.
The affidavit said Reile created some of the false personas that he used to communicate with over 40 unsuspecting females between August 2015 and December 2015 by asking to "friend" female friends of his regular Facebook friends. It said that once he was accepted as someone's new Facebook friend, he would use the female's name and photograph to develop an entirely new Facebook account in her name.
Reile would also use his newly created female identities to develop friendships with girls and women through other social media websites, the affidavit said. It identified the other sites as Kik, an instant messaging application for mobile devices, and MeetMe, a platform that allows users to message other users on their mobile devices and to browse for individuals in the same region.
According to the affidavit, the FBI began investigating Reile in the course of looking into an Aug. 24, 2015, tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about questionable conversations between another man and two children. After that man was indicted on charges of enticing a minor to engage in sex acts, a forensic analysis of his cellular telephone led investigators to Reile, who, using the name "Stasi," had also chatted with one of the man's victims.
That victim -- a 16-year-old girl -- told investigators that she had contacted the other man at the urging of "Stasi," who said he was her "sugar daddy" and would pay money to have sex with her.
Once investigators tracked the "Stasi" persona to Reile through a TracFone subpoena and interviewed him in his Benton home, he denied portraying himself as a female on social media sites, which led to the charge of lying to a federal agent. According to the affidavit, a subsequent search of Reile's cellphone showed "multiple messages indicating that Reile had assumed the identities of various females without their permission," some of whom were younger than 18.
In the affidavit, FBI agent Katie Rowbotham listed parts of several conversations in which Reile pretended to be female and "repeatedly asked women for nude pictures and to have sex," or impersonated another male, also in search of naked photographs. In one conversation, Rowbotham said, Reile asked a female for videos of her performing oral sex on her boyfriend. In another conversation, a female asked Reile, "How many guys do you think will come see us? And how do we split the cash?"
The woman, whose name Reile used later, told him, upon discovering that he had been using her name, "I'm over you trying to be me. ... It just shows how lonely and pathetic you are. You just better hope that I don't see you anywhere."
The woman later told him, "Stop pretending to be me."
He responded, "I'm just acting ... and acting isn't illegal."
Another woman reported that Reile, who had once been her ex-boyfriend's roommate, had stolen nude pictures of her off her boyfriend's phone and created a Facebook page in her name on which he posted several of the photographs. She said he also opened an Internet profile in her name with the nude pictures, and announced on the profile that she would do sexual favors for $50. In addition, the woman said, Reile texted the nude photographs to other people, including her employer.
On Thursday, defense attorney Molly Sullivan of the federal public defender's office told Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, "I don't consider him predatory. I think he just never grew up after high school."
Sullivan said Reile "has been somewhat sheltered by his grandparents," with whom he lives, and has never had to face the consequences of anything until now.
As Reile's grandparents sat listening from the courtroom gallery, Sullivan told the judge that when Reile engaged in the online discussions that led to the charges, "He didn't really realize the consequence of what he was doing."
Sullivan said Reile understands now that he must serve time in prison for his deeds and "wants to use this as an opportunity to get an education." She asked Miller to recommend that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons enroll him in educational and vocational programs as well as a drug treatment program that can chip some time off a federal sentence if successfully completed, noting that he uses marijuana.
Reile chose not to address the judge himself, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Bragg said she joined in Sullivan's request that Miller impose the agreed-upon sentence.
Miller agreed to recommend the prison programs for Reile and also ordered him to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation and counseling.
The judge noted that while federal statutes cap the penalty for extortion at two years, the charge of attempted production of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years. So, even though federal sentencing guidelines recommended 121 to 151 months -- or 10 to 12½ years -- in prison for Reile, who has prior convictions, he would have to serve at least 15 years.
The negotiated sentence consists of 180 months, or 15 years, for the pornography conviction and two years for the extortion conviction, to be served consecutively.
Metro on 02/17/2017