Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WEST JORDAN — A South Jordan man convicted of "sextortion," or extorting teenage girls on social media, has been sentenced to prison.
In April, Gabe Ryan Gilbert, 21, was convicted on five counts of aggravated sexual extortion of a child, a first-degree felony, and four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors recommended that he serve five years in prison.
On Wednesday, Gilbert was sentenced to terms of five years to life in the Utah State Prison for each of his first-degree felonies, and one to 15 years in prison for each of the second-degree felonies. All counts were ordered to run concurrently.
The judge also went along with the plea deal and recommended that Gilbert be eligible for parole in five years, and that five years be the maximum amount of time he serves, according to court records. The judge court also requested that Gilbert receive treatment as soon as possible and reside at home after his release. All those decisions, however, will now be up to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
After being sentenced, the judge ordered Gilbert to turn himself in the following day at the courthouse to Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies who then took him to jail.
Investigators say Gilbert pressured more than 50 girls to send him explicit photographs and often threatened to expose them or ruin their lives if they refused.
