Ex-Substitute Teacher Gets 40 Years for Sextortion Involving Minors
A Carver County man and former substitute teacher was sentenced last week to 40 years in prison and 25 years of supervised release for his role in a years-long sextortion scheme and producing child pornography.
According to court documents, Mitchell James Ottinger, 25, engaged in a scheme to obtain sexually explicit images and videos of minors and adults by using false online personas.
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Ottinger was a former substitute teacher and paraprofessional. Over the course of several years, Ottinger victimized 42 people, including at least 23 minors, some of whom he knew from the school district where he worked.
Ottinger threatened to disseminate the images and videos of his victims in order to extort more images and videos.
Law enforcement was alerted to the scheme when one of the victims contacted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center and reported the threats.
“Today's crippling sentence reflects the heinous nature of the defendant's crimes, as he used his position of trust and authority to find his victims, and traumatize them,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Paul.
“Sextortion is a crime that can victimize any child and the FBI will continue to work with our partners and in our communities to make sure our children know that help is available and that we will spare no effort in hunting down their predators,” Paul said.
On October 19, 2021, Ottinger pleaded guilty to two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography and one count of interstate communication with intent to extort.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
If you know of any child who may have been a victim of exploitation, please get more info from the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
This case is the result of investigations conducted by the FBI and the Carver County Sheriff’s Office.
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