Man sentenced to 5 years in prison for sextortion of dozens of underage girls

A 35-year-old man was sentenced to five years in prison and TBS with compulsory treatment for forcing dozens of underage girls online to take sex photos and videos, the court in Amsterdam announced on Monday. The sentence matched the amount of time demanded by the prosecutor. His case came to the attention of the police after a children's program was aired on Dutch TV.

The case came to light after an 11-year-old girl from Amsterdam recognized her own exploitation by adults pretending to be children on the children's TV show Het Klokhuis in March 2022. The TV program explained that adults sometimes pretend to be children and request nude photos and videos. The child realized something similar had happened to her and informed her parents, who contacted the police.

Investigators took control of the child's chat with an individual named "Tim," posing as a boy aged 12-15. They discovered that the IP address linked to "Tim" was in fact being used by Randy F., a man in his thirties from Limburg.

Police found hard drives containing over 136,000 photos and 31,000 videos of child pornography in his parents' bedroom. Folders with children's names were found on his computer, including photos and videos of online conversations F. had had with underage girls between the ages of 7 and 12 from the Netherlands and Belgium.

In 2020, the Midden-Nederland police already received a report about Randy F. At the time, a detective told him to stop chatting with young girls. Despite that, he persisted, contacting them via TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram under false names. He started by giving them compliments, but soon the conversations turned sexual, and F. asked for nude photos and videos.

When the girls said they no longer wanted to continue, F. said he would commit suicide. He also threatened to make photos and videos of the girls public. After victims blocked Randy F. because they no longer wanted contact with him, he tried to contact them via an anonymous phone number.

Randy F. confessed to being guilty of grooming the young girls. He attributed his behavior to his cocaine addiction.

In July, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded a prison sentence of five years and TBS with compulsory treatment. “To satisfy his own desires, he hunted for victims without any compassion, like a predator, showing no understanding of the damage inflicted on the children,” the OM wrote.

Experts asserted that Randy F. was diagnosed with a pedophilic disorder. He also seems to be struggling with borderline personality disorder, a condition that can make him act in a threatening manner when he cannot maintain control. The probability of repeat incidents is usually high in these cases, leading to the recommendation of a restraining order.

On Monday, the court announced that it is following the experts' advice and imposing a TBS order with compulsory treatment on the man. This measure is deemed necessary "to protect the safety of others, the general public, and to prevent recidivism in the form of violent crime."

The court decided on a 5-year prison sentence in addition to the TBS measure for Randy F., matching the amount of time demanded by the prosecutor. This decision considered the suspect's limited accountability and factors such as the number of child victims, the significant amount of child pornographic material discovered, the duration of the offenses, and the lasting trauma inflicted on the victims and their community.