Latest news with #sexualExploitation
Daily Mail
30-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Tech exec, 35, who 'groomed missing Alisa on her secret iPad' is finally arrested
A tech sales executive accused of trying to lure a missing girl across the country for sex has surrendered to police after eight days in hiding. Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35, allegedly spent months grooming Alisa Petrov, 15, after getting in contact via Instagram through her secret iPad. He slowly gained her trust and police alleged convinced her to send him nude photos and engage in perverted sexual fantasies before agreeing to meet in person. Alisa suddenly disappeared from her school in Utah on April 21, and messages between the two revealed they had arranged to meet in Las Vegas. Police believe they never actually met, but Alisa has not been seen or heard from since she was spotted asking for help to get a bus ticket to Las Vegas. Menard was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and three counts of criminal solicitation on May 20. Police earlier refused to say why he wasn't in custody, but late on Wednesday night he finally turned himself in after traveling to Utah from his home in Miami and was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. A second man Alisa was talking to, identified by police as William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, was arrested on May 8 and remains in custody. South Jordan Police also arrested a third man late on Wednesday, who was allegedly grooming Alisa days before she disappeared. Samuel Teancum Mitchell, 41, lived in Herriman, Utah, only streets away from Alisa's home in South Jordan, on the edge of Salt Lake City. He was also thrown in the Salt Lake County Jail and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. Mitchell comes from a very large Mormon family originally from North Carolina, and moved to Utah as a child along with his 11 brothers and sisters. One of his brothers, Abe Mitchell, took his own life on February 24 last year and Mitchell started a fundraiser that collected $8,000 for his funeral costs. Police allegedly found perverted messages between the pair on Alisa's iPad, exchanged through Discord and Snapchat, according to a search warrant. Alisa asked Mitchell to 'kidnap' her while she was on a family ski trip, and revealed she was running away from home two days before she went missing. 'IM RUNNING AWAY, please don't contact me,' she wrote at 12.34am on April 19, the search warrant alleged. Messages between Alisa and Mitchell included her telling him she wanted to be a vlogger when she turned 18, but also allegedly contained graphic descriptions of sexual acts he wanted to do to her when they met in person. She was only saved from this fate when Mitchell told her they couldn't meet, the affidavit explained. 'Sorry I'm really sick,' Mitchell allegedly wrote. Alisa replied: 'So we meeting?' Mitchell responded: 'If you want to hear me sneezing and coughing and getting you sick, plus I wouldn't be much fun.' South Jordan Police requesting the search warrant alleged Alisa called Mitchell 'daddy' and they discussed 'couples twister' and 'sex monopoly' games. Alisa also requested multiple times for Mitchell to 'kidnap her' and eight days before she ran away sent him locations where she would be, the affidavit alleged. One of these was the Alta Ski Resort, where Alisa was on a trip with her parents the weekend before she disappeared - returning only hours earlier. Some of the photos her parents Olga and Nikolai released in the hope of finding her were taken on the same ski trip. After Mitchell said he was sick, Alisa instead allegedly arranged to meet Menard in Las Vegas while he was there on a business trip, and from there fly to Los Angeles, then his home in Miami. On April 21, Alisa was dropped off at her school, Canyon Grove Academy, in American Fork, about 32 miles south of Salt Lake City. But instead of going to class, she bought supplies at a nearby gas station and convinced a man there to drive her to the local train station. Alisa got off the train in Provo, about 14 miles south of American Fork, and asked multiple people there to help her get a bus ticket to Las Vegas. Alisa returned from a family trip to Alta Ski Resort in Utah only hours before she disappeared. Some of the photos her parents released were taken on the same ski trip Menard, an IT sales executive, grew up in Noblesville outside Indianapolis the youngest of four brothers, then moved to Chicago and finally Miami. But beneath his clean-cut, designer stubbled face was allegedly a depraved desire to sexually abuse young girls. Police detailed in affidavits the disturbing messages between Alisa and Menard dating back to January 17. '[Menard] over the course of several months, corresponded with [the teen] for the purpose of soliciting sex, sodomy, and child sex abuse material from the minor,' the affidavit continued. '[He] discussed in graphic detail his intent to sexually abuse the child. [He] encouraged and engaged with [the teen] all from the state of Florida, where all his substantial ties to the community and resources are.' Menard's lawyers, Collins Rupp in Bountiful, north of Salt Lake City, did not return calls. Glines was arrested in Texas City on May 8 and remains in custody charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation. He was also charged by police in Texas with possessing more than 50 child sexual abuse images or videos. He is yet to enter a plea. The probable cause affidavit detailed disturbing conversations between Glines and Alisa, including how he allegedly convinced he to send nude photos and videos. '[Alisa] expresses feeling extremely uncomfortable and anxious sending pictures and photos of herself, to the point it made her want to self-harm,' it alleged. She was so uncomfortable that on one occasion when Glines allegedly threatened to punish her if she refused, she asked for the punishment instead. He told her to beat herself with a piece of wood or a hairbrush as hard as she could, explaining 'I'm a sadist'. 'I'm just saying if the average person knew I was talking to you they'd want to cut my f**king d**k [off],' he said during another conversation. Police have not said if any of the three men knew each other. '[Police] say they cannot guarantee [that Alisa is still alive], but there was no indication that she's not,' Alisa's mother, Olga Petrov, told 'They say they still have some leads... but we have no idea what kind of leads, they're not saying anything.' Olga said she and her husband, Nikolai, were vigilant in protecting their daughter and educated her about the dangers of talking to strangers online. 'We regularly check her phone and there was nothing suspicious. Everything seemed to be normal, just classmates, neighbors,' she said. 'We never thought she could be talking to strangers in this way.' The worried mother hoped Alisa was just staying away because 'I would assume she's really embarrassed.' She said Alisa didn't have much money and that she didn't have a coat, even though it was below 40 degrees on some of nights after she went missing. 'So somebody else is either helping her and we don't know who or where... I'm not suspecting the worst,' Olga said. 'That means she's with somebody else and we don't know if it's a good person or a bad person.' Alisa was very trusting of people and liked to strike up conversations with others in the park while hiking or on family holidays. 'She was always trying to meet people to talk to people, like I mean she was just trusting, and we cautioned her about it all the time to at least to be careful,' her mother said. 'That's just how she is... and they took advantage of her.' Petrov's desperate family is offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information on her whereabouts. They set up a website with a desperate appeal to the teen, insisting she wouldn't be in trouble if she returned. 'Alisa, if you can see this, please know that we love you, we will always love you. We miss you. All of your friends and our friends are very worried too,' her parents wrote. Police have classified the teen as an endangered runaway. She is described as standing about 5-foot-3 and weighing about 122 pounds. Surveillance footage from the gas station showed her wearing a white shirt with darker lettering on the front.
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Tech exec, 35, who 'groomed missing Alisa on her secret iPad' is finally arrested
A tech sales executive accused of trying to lure a missing girl across the country for sex has surrendered to police after eight days in hiding. Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35, allegedly spent months grooming Alisa Petrov, 15, after getting in contact via Instagram through her secret iPad. He slowly gained her trust and police alleged convinced her to send him nude photos and engage in perverted sexual fantasies before agreeing to meet in person. Alisa suddenly disappeared from her school in Utah on April 21, and messages between the two revealed they had arranged to meet in Las Vegas. Police believe they never actually met, but Alisa has not been seen or heard from since she was spotted asking for help to get a bus ticket to Las Vegas. Menard was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and three counts of criminal solicitation on May 20. Police earlier refused to say why he wasn't in custody, but late on Wednesday night he finally turned himself in after traveling to Utah and was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. A second man Alisa was talking to, identified by police as William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, was arrested on May 8 and remains in custody. South Jordan Police also arrested a third man late on Wednesday, who was allegedly grooming Alisa days before she disappeared. Samuel Teancum Mitchell, 41, lived in Herriman, Utah, only streets away from Alisa's home in South Jordan, on the edge of Salt Lake City. He was also thrown in the Salt Lake County Jail and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. Police allegedly found perverted messages between the pair on Alisa's iPad, exchanged through Discord and Snapchat, according to a search warrant. Alisa asked Mitchell to 'kidnap' her while she was on a family ski trip, and revealed she was running away from home two days before she went missing. 'IM RUNNING AWAY, please don't contact me,' she wrote at 12.34am on April 19, the search warrant alleged. Messages between Alisa and Mitchell included her telling him she wanted to be a vlogger when she turned 18, but also allegedly contained graphic descriptions of sexual acts he wanted to do to her when they met in person. She was only saved from this fate when Mitchell told her they couldn't meet, the affidavit explained. 'Sorry I'm really sick,' Mitchell allegedly wrote. Alisa replied: 'So we meeting?' Mitchell responded: 'If you want to hear me sneezing and coughing and getting you sick, plus I wouldn't be much fun.' Beneath Menard's clean-cut, designer stubbled face was allegedly a depraved desire South Jordan Police requesting the search warrant alleged Alisa called Mitchell 'daddy' and they discussed 'couples twister' and 'sex monopoly' games. Alisa also requested multiple times for Mitchell to 'kidnap her' and eight days before she ran away sent him locations where she would be, the affidavit alleged. One of these was the Alta Ski Resort, where Alisa was on a trip with her parents the weekend before she disappeared - returning only hours earlier. Some of the photos her parents Olga and Nikolai released in the hope of finding her were taken on the same ski trip. After Mitchell said he was sick, Alisa instead allegedly arranged to meet Menard in Las Vegas while he was there on a business trip, and from there fly to Los Angeles, then his home in Miami. On April 21, Alisa was dropped off at her school, Canyon Grove Academy, in American Fork, about 32 miles south of Salt Lake City. But instead of going to class, she bought supplies at a nearby gas station and convinced a man there to drive her to the local train station. Alisa got off the train in Provo, about 14 miles south of American Fork, and asked multiple people there to help her get a bus ticket to Las Vegas. Menard, an IT sales executive, grew up in Noblesville outside Indianapolis the youngest of four brothers, then moved to Chicago and finally Miami. But beneath his clean-cut, designer stubbled face was allegedly a depraved desire to sexually abuse young girls. Police detailed in affidavits the disturbing messages between Alisa and Menard dating back to January 17. '[Menard] over the course of several months, corresponded with [the teen] for the purpose of soliciting sex, sodomy, and child sex abuse material from the minor,' the affidavit continued. '[He] discussed in graphic detail his intent to sexually abuse the child. [He] encouraged and engaged with [the teen] all from the state of Florida, where all his substantial ties to the community and resources are.' Menard's lawyers, Collins Rupp in Bountiful, north of Salt Lake City, did not return calls. Glines was arrested in Texas City on May 8 and remains in custody charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation. He was also charged by police in Texas with possessing more than 50 child sexual abuse images or videos. He is yet to enter a plea. The probable cause affidavit detailed disturbing conversations between Glines and Alisa, including how he allegedly convinced he to send nude photos and videos. '[Alisa] expresses feeling extremely uncomfortable and anxious sending pictures and photos of herself, to the point it made her want to self-harm,' it alleged. She was spotted on surveillance footage making a purchase at a local gas station before boarding a UTA train. She was so uncomfortable that on one occasion when Glines allegedly threatened to punish her if she refused, she asked for the punishment instead. He told her to beat herself with a piece of wood or a hairbrush as hard as she could, explaining 'I'm a sadist'. 'I'm just saying if the average person knew I was talking to you they'd want to cut my f**king d**k [off],' he said during another conversation. Police have not said if any of the three men knew each other. '[Police] say they cannot guarantee [that Alisa is still alive], but there was no indication that she's not,' Alisa's mother, Olga Petrov, told 'They say they still have some leads... but we have no idea what kind of leads, they're not saying anything.' Olga said she and her husband, Nikolai, were vigilant in protecting their daughter and educated her about the dangers of talking to strangers online. 'We regularly check her phone and there was nothing suspicious. Everything seemed to be normal, just classmates, neighbors,' she said. 'We never thought she could be talking to strangers in this way.' Whether Alisa made it to Las Vegas and met either of the men is unclear, as is what happened to her after she was seen in Provo, Utah The worried mother hoped Alisa was just staying away because 'I would assume she's really embarrassed.' She said Alisa didn't have much money and that she didn't have a coat, even though it was below 40 degrees on some of nights after she went missing. 'So somebody else is either helping her and we don't know who or where... I'm not suspecting the worst,' Olga said. 'That means she's with somebody else and we don't know if it's a good person or a bad person.' Alisa was very trusting of people and liked to strike up conversations with others in the park while hiking or on family holidays. 'She was always trying to meet people to talk to people, like I mean she was just trusting, and we cautioned her about it all the time to at least to be careful,' her mother said. 'That's just how she is... and they took advantage of her.' Petrov's desperate family are offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information on her whereabouts Petrov's desperate family is offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information on her whereabouts. They set up a website with a desperate appeal to the teen, insisting she wouldn't be in trouble if she returned. 'Alisa, if you can see this, please know that we love you, we will always love you. We miss you. All of your friends and our friends are very worried too,' her parents wrote. Police have classified the teen as an endangered runaway. She is described as standing about 5-foot-3 and weighing about 122 pounds.
Malay Mail
21-05-2025
- Malay Mail
Singapore man pleads guilty to extorting teen after ‘sugar daddy' agreement goes wrong
SINGAPORE, May 21 — A 27-year-old Singaporean has admitted to multiple offences involving a teenage victim and others, including extortion, cheating, and making obscene films. Channel News Asia (CNA) reported that Marc Justine Landrio Chandramohan pleaded guilty today to seven charges. These include communicating for the purpose of obtaining commercial sex, extortion, and abetting the distribution of obscene images. Nine additional charges will be considered during sentencing next month. Court documents state Chandramohan met the 16-year-old victim on Instagram in 2021 and proposed a financial arrangement in exchange for sexual favours. The victim initially agreed but later tried to end the arrangement and blocked contact. Despite this, Chandramohan continued to contact the victim, demanding repayment of money and threatening legal action. Under this pressure, the victim complied with some of his demands. Deputy Public Prosecutors Adelle Tai and Melissa Heng described Chandramohan's behaviour as exploitative. 'His exploitation of the first victim is particularly egregious, as he mined her for both money and sexual gratification. He concocted a story about taking legal action against the first victim and tapped on her fear of being embroiled in legal troubles,' they reportedly said. Investigations also revealed that Chandramohan recorded videos of two other women during sexual acts without their consent. These were recovered from his phone during police inquiries. Chandramohan was additionally involved in a separate offence concerning unauthorised transfers of funds through a bank account he controlled. He will be sentenced on June 2. The identities of all victims are protected under court order.
Times
15-05-2025
- Times
Farewell to Andrew Norfolk, a fearless Times reporter
Journalism, the saying goes, exists to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. None did either with such fearlessness as Andrew Norfolk, who has died aged 60. For 24 years Mr Norfolk, who retired last year, was a correspondent and latterly chief investigative reporter for The Times. It is no exaggeration to say that no other journalist's work has had such a profound impact on British public life in recent years. Without Mr Norfolk's diligent, meticulous reporting, it is unlikely that any politician in this country would now be discussing the stain on British life represented by grooming gangs. It was on January 5, 2011, that his inquiries into the sexual exploitation of vulnerable girls by mainly Asian men across the north of England first
Telegraph
08-05-2025
- Telegraph
Doctor jailed for filming colleagues with hidden cameras in bathroom
A doctor who installed hidden cameras in a bathroom to secretly record 24 people has been jailed. Ju Young Um, 34, hid the cameras in air fresheners to film his victims over more than three years. The anaesthetist was found guilty of 23 charges in April following a trial at Glasgow sheriff court and was jailed for 18 months when he appeared there for sentencing on Thursday, the Crown Office said. Prosecutors said he installed hidden cameras at his property in the Hyndland area of Glasgow, which had been partially rented out on Airbnb. One victim became suspicious after noticing two air fresheners that appeared to be facing the lavatory and shower, prosecutors said. On closer inspection, hidden cameras were discovered inside the plastic containers, and a further search found a third camera inside a smoke alarm. The victim contacted police and the cameras were seized along with a mobile phone, laptop and storage device which contained recordings of several people. Um was also found guilty of covertly filming people in private situations within staff accommodation at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary. Fraser Gibson, procurator fiscal for Glasgow and Strathkelvin, said: 'Ju Young Um carried out these invasive offences in a calculated and premeditated manner. 'He abused a position of trust to significantly violate the privacy of numerous individuals for his own sexual gratification. 'I give thanks to all those involved in securing this prosecution, which has held Um accountable while also protecting others from harm. 'We will continue to take action against those responsible for this type of offending as we strive to keep the communities we serve safe.' The offences took place between November 2020 and August 2024. Um will remain on licence for a further nine months once he is released from prison, during which time he will be subject to close monitoring and supervision. His name has been added to the sex offenders register for 10 years. 'Despicable actions' Det Sgt Cameron Gilchrist, of Police Scotland, said: 'Ju Young Um now faces the consequences of his despicable and distressing actions. 'Our thoughts remain with his victims who had their privacy violated. We hope that his sentencing will bring them some comfort. 'Sexual crime, of any nature, is not to be tolerated and we will thoroughly investigate any reports made to us, no matter how much time has passed. 'I would urge people to come forward and you can be assured of being fully supported by officers and our partner agencies.'
