- Nicholas Santiago Gonzales faces charges of sexual extortion and exploitation of minors.
- A 17-year-old reported threats from Gonzales on Snapchat to her school officer, charges say.
- Police reported finding explicit content and conversations with teens on Gonzales' devices.
SANTAQUIN — A Santaquin man was charged Monday with contacting teenage girls on social media, convincing them to send explicit pictures and then — in at least one case — threatening to publicly release the pictures.
Nicholas Santiago Gonzales, 20, is charged in 4th District Court with sexual extortion, a first-degree felony, and four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began Nov. 6 when a 17-year-old girl told her school resource officer about "some exploitation and threats she had been experiencing over the social media platform Snapchat," according to charging documents.
The girl explained that after meeting Gonzales online, their conversations became sexual and she sent him photographs and videos of herself, the charges state.
Gonzales then began to threaten the girl and "threatened to share the images of (her) if she did not call him 'daddy' or meet up with him to engage in sexual acts. (Gonzales) threatened he would 'leak' her nude photographs and videos to others if she refused to comply," the charging documents allege.
After she went to the officers in her school for help, police obtained a search warrant for Gonzales' social media account.
"The subscriber information released a plethora of images and chat conversations between (Gonzales) and other Snapchat users," the charges state.
Police then obtained warrants for Gonzales' electronic devices. When questioned, he denied receiving any pictures or videos from the girl until after she turned 18. However, he "admitted that he often has conversations with girls he does not know on Snapchat" and has received "sexually explicit videos from multiple females on Snapchat but denied that the females were under the age of 18," according to the charges.
However, in reviewing the videos and pictures on his Snapchat account, officers were able to identify a 16-year-old girl from Bountiful, investigators wrote in the charges.
"Officers reviewed other conversations that (Gonzales) had with other minors on Snapchat. In the conversations, (he) asks the minors to meet up or engage in sexual acts. On several occasions, the minors confirm their age and that it is illegal for (Gonzales) to request to meet up and engage in sex. (He) continues to solicit these other minors in these conversations on various social media platforms," according to the charging documents.
