SAN PEDRO CITY, Philippines—Police arrested a graduating student at a school in Cavite province for threatening to leak online a copy of his classmates’ sex video taken during a recent class outing.
Adonis Evan de Leon, 22, a graduating student from a school in Silang town in Cavite, was arrested while claiming money sent by his classmates in a money transfer outlet in Sta. Rosa City in Laguna province on Monday night, police said.
Chief Insp. Joseph Villaran, head of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional police’s anti-cybercrime unit, said two of the suspect’s classmates, a male and female aged 20 and 19, respectively, went to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, last week to seek help.
The suspect, who sent messages through an anonymous Facebook account, allegedly demanded P30,000 from the victims in exchange for a copy of their sex video, which he threatened to upload on social media.
The victims feared the sex video, once leaked, would disqualify them from graduating on May 27, Villaran said.
It was not clear who took the video, but it was filmed discreetly using a mobile phone camera during a recent school retreat in Batangas province.
The police arranged an entrapment operation by wiring cash to the anonymous Facebook user. But instead of P30,000, they sent only P300 through a money transfer service, without the suspect realizing it.
Through coordination with the money transfer service, the police traced the pick-up point in a shopping mall in Sta. Rosa City.
“The victims were surprised to see it was their classmate (De Leon) claiming the money,” Villaran said. A copy of the sex video was also found in De Leon’s mobile phone.
De Leon was charged with violations of the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 (Republic Act No. 9995) and robbery with extortion. TVJ/rga
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