SAN FRANCISCO — (AP) — Three years after a California teenager died by suicide, four men in West Africa have been arrested on suspicion of participating in “international sextortion scheme,” according to federal investigators.
The 2022 death of Ryan Last, a 17-year-old high school senior, prompted a lengthy international investigation, according to a statement Friday from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Last had corresponded online with someone on a Meta social media platform he believed to be a young woman who sent him explicit photos. The teen reciprocated with similar photos of himself and was immediately hit with a blackmail demand. Terrified the photos would be exposed, Last died by suicide, the statement said.
In April, the blackmailer was arrested in Cote d’Ivoire, officials said. At the time of his arrest, the suspect “still had the sextortion messages he sent to the 17-year-old victim in February 2022 on his phone,” the DOJ said. The teen, from San Jose, had paid him $150. …