Indiana man to plead guilty in online 'sextortion' scam

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A man in Indiana has agreed to plead guilty to charges alleging that he tricked about a dozen teenagers into stripping or performing sexual acts for him via webcam and used recordings of those sessions to coerce them into making even more explicit videos.

Richard Finkbiner signed an agreement filed in federal court in Indiana on Wednesday in which he will plead guilty to child exploitation, extortion and possession of child pornography in exchange for a recommended sentence of 30 to 50 years in prison.

US Attorney Joe Hogsett previously said prosecutors intended to seek an effective life sentence if a jury convicted Finkbiner.

Prosecutors say Finkbiner met his victims, who were mostly male, in online chat rooms. The teens thought they were looking at live images of people, including a couple, in at least one instance, who were acting sexually and encouraging the teens to do the same, but the images were actually recordings Finkbiner was showing them.