By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
EL RENO – A Canadian County Sheriff’s Office investigation has led prosecutors to charge a Norman man for demanding lewd images from a Mustang teenager.
Austin Jae Brown, 23, was charged July 12 in Canadian County District Court with procure/produce/distribute/possess juvenile pornography. The alleged female victim was 13 when the crime was reported.
The juvenile and her mother came to the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office to “make a report of an online predator,” according to a probable cause affidavit signed by a sheriff’s investigator.
Assistant District Attorney Eric Epplin alleges Brown violated state law in October 2020 “by demanding and receiving digital images” of the underage girl for “the purpose of the sexual stimulation of the defendant.”
Brown was arrested Aug. 25 and booked into the Canadian County Jail. He was released after posting a $50,000 bond.
A preliminary hearing conference is set Sept. 29 before Special Judge Khristan K. Strubhar.
If convicted, Brown faces up to 20 years in prison and/or a maximum $25,000 fine. He is not eligible for a deferred sentence.
BLACKMAIL REPORTED
The probable cause affidavit shows that Brown in early October 2020, contacted the alleged victim via the Snapchat and Instagram social media platforms. The conversation later moved to text and Facetime.
Brown initially told the Mustang student he was 16 years old but later advised he was a college student in Alabama, the affidavit indicates.
After the girl sent two nude images through Snapchat, the defendant “stated they weren’t ‘good enough’ and asked to see her nude on Facetime,” according to the affidavit.
“Brown stated he would blackmail her with the nudes if she didn’t participate. The only way to not have her images shared online was to send him a video of her (private parts).”
It was then the Mustang student informed her mother what happened.
During the investigation, the girl reported “she had also communicated with a friend of Brown’s by social media and text who attempted to convince her to participate in a Facetime chat or send the video of her (private parts) in order to have the nudes that were already in possession of erased.”
After reviewing the alleged victim’s personal cellular device and screenshot images, the sheriff’s investigator positively identified Brown.
The Canadian County Sheriff’s Office learned defendant Brown is the subject of several open investigations in Alabama on charges of sexual extortion, harassing communication and sexual assault.
An investigator with the University of Alabama and Tuscaloosa Police “advised Brown used the same tactics” with the Alabama victims and “had been using multiple Internet numbers” while “posing as a ‘friend’,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
