South Carolina Ping 
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Posted on 05/15/2019 7:13:19 AM PDT by Gamecock
Two South Carolina prison inmates have been charged in a “sextortion” scam that led to the suicide of a 24-year-old U.S. Army veteran.
Jared Johns, a father of two, killed himself on Sept. 11, 2018, after he was blackmailed by men pretending to be the parents of an underage girl who had sent him illicit photographs.
Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller announced Friday that a months-long investigation led authorities to John William Dobbins, 59, and Carl Richard Smith, 43 — two inmates at Lee Correctional Institution, a maximum-security facility near Bishopville, S.C.
“We now know that at the time of his death Jared was the victim of a blackmail scheme orchestrated by inmates in a South Carolina prison, which created sufficient mental anguish to cause Jared to believe that he was going to be accused of a serious crime with lifelong implications,” Miller said at a news conference.
The inmates, pretending to be the parents of a 17-year-old girl, demanded $1,189 from Johns so they wouldn’t go to the police, the chief said.
The two suspects are part of a “network” of inmates using dating apps on contraband cell phones to target military personnel, Miller said. They portray themselves as young, attractive women who quickly begin sharing nude or partially nude photos, according to the chief.
After the pictures are sent, the victims are then contacted by a person pretending to be the father or mother of the girl.
“Because servicemen have so much to lose, they often capitulate, even when no wrongdoing has occurred,” Miller said.
Text messages shared by Johns’ family show he told the men, whom he believed were the girl’s parents, that he had no memory of the incident but understood their anger.
“I have two kids of my own a 2 year old and 1 year old,” he wrote, according to messages shared with Greenville News.
Miller said it appears Johns was “in disbelief” about the allegations against him and “had no idea” he was being blackmailed.
The Army veteran died from a self-inflicted gunshot in his home on the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
If convicted, the two suspects will have more time added to their already-long prison sentences. Dobbins is serving 25 years on drug charges and Smith is serving 15 years for assault.
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The military is constantly warning troops about societal dangers; “don’t shake your baby when you drink and drive” that sort of stuff. I hope they are making this scam known.
Interesting. A few weeks ago I got an email to my regular Yahoo inbox from a guy who was threatening to send all my “sext messages” and pornographic email and pictures to my employer if I didn’t pay 5K to a bank account somewhere in Virginia. I sent the email to the cyber security chief where I work. They were quite interested and told me others in our company were getting the same phishing scam emails. Naturally, I don’t have any sext messages or pictures of anything but my Golden Retrievers on my phone
Why are SC prison inmates allowed to have access to computers??? Military men who have been harmed should file suits against states that have such lax supervision of inmates.
This has been a well known internet scam for years now, I am surprised he didn’t google it, would have told him exactly what was going on and the best thing was to ignore/block the scammer.
They use cell phones, someone must have smuggled them in somehow, someone has a big kiester
contraband cellphones................
Why not go full Monty and ask for $1,190?
I remember hearing recently that there was a movement afoot to pass a law to block cell signals in prisons. Why that hasn’t been done yet is maddening
They were engaged in a felony (or multiple felonies), and their felonious conduct resulted in someone's death.
Charge them with felony murder.
Our tax dollars at work, allowing the Homobullies access to our children and grandchildren. Disgusting . President Trump should have zeroed PBS from the budget in 2017.
Someone is paying the bill or buying prepaid phones, find and charge them.
Well, if a man in his 20’s finds a 17 year old girl attractive, he is obviously a sicko pervert pedo! Even the accusation alone is shameful. All men should only be attracted to 35+ year old women who consume gallons of wine each week, have had at least 100 sex partners, and at least two STD’s, and are at least 50 lbs. overweight. Bonus points for multiple tattoos. Men need to MAN UP and marry these creatures.
But seriously, there must have been some other stuff going on with this poor guy. It’s an obvious scam in which he didn’t do anything. There is no good reason to ever send or receive a naked picture from/to anyone. Sounds like his grasp on reality was loose. Scammers usually prey on old people, but there are a few that appeal to the young
South Carolina Ping
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Yup.
Breaking elsewhere on FR: Contraband allegedly found in two women's private areas while visiting Century [FL] prison
And I quote:
The report said: "Each person had two rubber balloons with condoms wrapped around them, concealed in either their vaginal cavity or rectal cavity."
Each packet contained two Micro L8 Star phones with two SIM cars, two phone chargers and a packet or marijuana, the report says.
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