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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man who prosecutors say met a 13-year-old because of a social media game is now accused of threatening the girl and demanding explicit pictures of her.
Jordan Daniel Sorensen, 22, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with aggravated extortion of a child, a first-degree felony, and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, a third-degree felony.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office has requested Sorensen be held in lieu of $250,000 bail in connection with the sextortion case.
In December, a 13-year-old girl received a chain message on Instagram that stated as part of a challenge that she needed to “send (the message) to more than 20 people.” The girl forwarded the message to all of her friends on Instagram, even though she “does not know all her Instagram friends personally and she sometimes adds ‘random people’ as followers,” according to the charging documents.
Sorensen was one of the recipients who received the message. About two hours later, he allegedly sent a message to the girl, even though the two had never met.
“Sorensen stated he thought (the girl) was ‘cute’ and asked her how old she was,” the charges state.
The girl lied and said she was 16. The two then began communicating through texts, Snapchat, FaceTime and Instagram, according to the charges.
The two “communicated several times a day for several days on various social media platforms and via text,” investigators wrote.
Beginning in mid-December, Sorensen began asking the girl for nude photos of herself, the charges state. When the girl refused, Sorensen threatened “he would tell all her friends that she was a liar. Because she did not want him to tell her friends that, she sent multiple nude and sexually explicit pictures of her body,” according to the court documents.
In January, the girl told Sorensen she was actually 13.
“Sorensen told (her) she was stupid, then stated ‘we could work it out,’” the charges say.
On Jan. 7, Sorensen allegedly asked for a video of the girl in the shower. When she refused, he “berated (the girl) and threatened to post nude pictures and videos of her to the internet,” according to the charges.
Prosecutors also noted that Sorensen is on probation in Utah on a compact from Colorado on kidnapping charges.
As part of social media safety, law enforcers say people who use social media, particularly children, should never “friend” somebody whom they’ve never met in person.
