Man jailed for 25 years for posing as a woman to trick teen boys into sending explicit photos
Daniel Avetta would use an alias on social media to entice and groom young boys
By Steve Brown
A man has been jailed for 25 years after posing as a woman to trick teenage boys into sending him nude photos.
Daniel Avetta, 27, from Missouri, used the alias Jessica Gable on Facebook and other social media to persuade teenage boys – mostly aged between 15 and 16 – to send him explicit photos, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
During the court proceedings, the jury heard Avetta would groom his victims for weeks or months and also spoke about suicide with them and would send them nude images and graphic photos of self-harm.
His attorney, Beverly Ann Beimdiek, said Avetta was abused and neglected by his family growing up and that he was “a lonely, awkward and geographically isolated person” and was made to live in an unheated garage from the age of 10.
Beimdiek also revealed he suffered from mental health problems including anxiety, depression, ADHD and PTSD.
In August, he pleaded guilty to four charges of producing child pornography, six counts of receiving child porn and two counts of online excitement of a minor.
He was jailed on 12 different charges, including online enticement and producing child pornography, and district judge Catherine Perry said he will be supervised for life when he is released from prison.