Valley man sentenced to over 4 years for threatening girls to get nudes
Sep 20, 2019, 3:00 PM
PHOENIX — A Valley man was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison Thursday for threatening underage girls in order to get nude photos from them.
Jarre Edward Bjelic, 25, pleaded guilty the same day to three counts of theft by extortion and one count of attempted fraud schemes.
According to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, a parent contacted police in 2014 after finding out their 15-year-old daughter was being bullied online.
Investigators learned that Bjelic had convinced the girl to send him nude photos when she was 13 and then threatened to leak them to her school and post them online if she did not send him more.
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When she refused to send them, the attorney’s office said, Bjelic created a social media account with her name and posted one of the photos and a link to a pornography website.
Investigators discovered there were at least 10 more victims whom Bjelic had threatened in similar ways.
They said he would claim to be a representative with a modeling agency and send contracts to the girls, in some cases demanding 10 images per day. One victim said Bjelic told her he would send the police to her house if she didn’t sign the contract.
He threatened to charge a $65 fee each day his demands were not met and offered to waive the fee in exchange for sex.
“Today’s sentencing cannot fix the damage this predator has inflicted on almost a dozen young girls whom he preyed on for his own ego and selfish desires Maricopa County Attorney Chief Deputy Rachel Mitchell said in a press release.
“However, it will protect our community from further harm while he is forced to think about his harmful actions.”
