A Christchurch online sex predator has been jailed for more than four years after posing as a 18-year-old woman to get youths, and a child aged 11, to perform sex acts on webcams and in the flesh.
Cameron Stuart Hore, 28, was sentenced in Christchurch District Court on Wednesday on charges of blackmail, sexual exploitation, fraudulently incurring debts for sex and one charge of attempted sexual exploitation with an 11-year-old.
He was jailed for four years and four months, the Christchurch Court News website reports.
Hore surfed internet chatrooms and Facebook, posing as a woman named "Sarah Ruddenklau" or a man named "Dan McPherson".
He spoke sexually with male victims, aged between 11 and 19, before asking them to perform sex acts on webcams.
He also offered thousands of dollars to some victims for sex, but after meeting at least one of them and receiving sexual favours he refused to pay.
After receiving a complaint about Hore, police late last year released Hore's Sarah Ruddenklau photo - believed to have been plucked at random from the internet - which prompted more young men to come forward.
Hore's computer revealed 9306 chat logs accumulated over 15 months in 2009 and 2010.
Nine of the 14 victims traced from a one-month period were willing to talk to police but many were too embarrassed to make formal complaints.
Crown prosecutor Pip Currie said it had been premeditated and planned offending using false identities.
Defence counsel Margaret Sewell said Hore, who is profoundly deaf, was in the grips of an increasing and escalating and out-of-control habit.
She said the investigation began from threats exchanged after one 19-year-old had been offered $50,000 for one unrealised sexual encounter, which led to a blackmail charge.
However, the victim should take some responsibility as he thought he was going to fund his university studies from the incident.
NZN