Photo Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Peace called Rizo’s sextortion “unconscionable and extremely harmful.”
By Forum Staff
On Tuesday, in federal court in Central Islip, Kevin Rizo was sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexually exploiting a minor. Rizo will also be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. He pleaded guilty to the charge in September 2021.
In December 2016, a 14-year-old boy and his parents reported to Nassau County police officers that on the night of Nov. 30, 2016 to Dec. 1, 2016, the victim had been contacted by Rizo on Instagram. Rizo was using the moniker “Alyssa,” and pretending to be a teenage girl. After the victim complied with “Alyssa’s” request to see explicit photographs and videos of the victim, the defendant threatened to share those photographs and videos with the victim’s friends unless the victim provided even more explicit material. On that same day, several friends of the victim received nude photos of the teen from Rizo.
File Photo
Rizo pleaded guilty to the charge in September 2021.
The government’s investigation revealed that Rizo had communicated with at least 130 boys and that most of them sent him nude images and videos of themselves at his behest. After Rizo received the images and videos, he threatened to disseminate them to others, including the boys’ friends and family members, if more images and videos were not sent.
“The defendant’s sextortion is unconscionable and extremely harmful to the young boy who should be commended for bravely coming forward to law enforcement to stop this predator,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “Today’s substantial prison sentence will protect the community here and elsewhere from Rizo, who trolled the Internet for more than 100 boys to entice and terrorize. I urge parents and caregivers to have frank conversations with their children about the dangers of communicating online with strangers who can pretend to be anyone or anything while making inappropriate requests for photos and videos.”
