FBI, HSI searching for El Paso victims of Odessa man convicted of cyberstalking

Federal authorities are searching for victims, including El Pasoans, of a man convicted of cyberstalking and extorting young women on social media.

Hugo Iram Cardona Jr. of Odessa pleaded guilty to three counts of cyberstalking March 11 at the Albert Armendariz Sr. Federal Courthouse in Downtown El Paso, court records show.

Cardona cyberstalked and extorted at least 15 victims in El Paso, Colorado and Arizona, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas officials said. The sextortion attempts happened between Aug. 15, 2020 to June 1, 2023.

Federal authorities are searching for any other teens or young women who may have been victimized by Cardona, officials said.

Cardona used several usernames on Instagram and Snapchat social media applications. The Instagram usernames included: “idkprii85,” “designoiram,” “juniorrriram,” “urfavpapi,” “urdvddyjunie” and “juniorrhernandez.” The Snapchat accounts were: “juniepri,” “asap_juniorrr” and “juniorrriram.”

Victims were also contacted from multiple TextNow phone numbers.

Anyone who had contact with Cardona or any of his usernames while using Snapchat, Instagram or TextNow between 2020 and 2023 is asked to complete a victim questionnaire at fbi.gov. Victims can also contact FBI El Paso agents by emailing CardonaVictims@fbi.gov or by calling 915-832-5000.

"The FBI/HSI are legally mandated to identify victims of crime in federal investigations," officials said in a news release. "Victims may be eligible for certain services, restitution, and other rights under federal and/or state law. Your responses are voluntary but may be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information. Victim identities are private, and case-related information is confidential."

Cardona steals intimate photos from social media, extorts girls for more photos, videos

The investigation into Cardona began when Homeland Security Investigations agents in El Paso contacted the FBI about an overlapping investigation into sextortion involving adults targeting minors via the internet on May 12, 2023, a federal complaint affidavit states.

The joint investigation revealed Cardona used a two-factor authentication scheme to gain access to "various young females' Snapchat accounts to steal their intimate photographs and videos," the affidavit states.

More: FBI warns of increase in sextortion cases targeting children in El Paso

Cardona would then contact the victims using numerous social media platforms, including Instagram and TextNow. He demanded the victims "apologize" or he would publicly release the images and videos, the affidavit states.

He also would demand his victims video chat with him while engaging in sexually explicit conduct, officials said.

Cardona threatens victims, demands an apology

The investigation found four victims from El Paso. The victims are identified in court records as MV-1, MV-2, MV-3 and MV-4.

The first victim received multiple threats from Cardona, including him telling her, "I have your nudes" and "apologize for blocking or ima expose you," the affidavit states. He told the victim, "I waiting for you to apologize" and "ill leave you alone."

Cardona sent several threats to the second victim on TextNow, including tell her "ur dumb asf," "I hacked you" and "got more nudes off ur (expletive)." He added, "Im still waiting for you to apologize and ill leave you alone," the affidavit states. He sent the victim the nude photos he stole of her from her social media account.

He told the victim to follow him on Instagram and Snapchat, where he continued to threaten her including tell her, "you're scared huh?." The victim confronted Cardona telling him the images he stole, "constituted child pornography as (she was) 17 years of age when they were taken," the affidavit states.

Cardona replied he would delete the photos as long as the victim did not do anything, the affidavit states. However, he messaged the girl a few days later stating "I'll give you an hour to apologize ... I won't hesitate to expose you," the affidavit states.

More: FBI El Paso warns sextortionists targeting children as young as 7, adults of all ages

Cardona texted a third victim claiming to be her boyfriend saying he had lost his phone. The victim "mistakenly sent Cardona partially nude photos," the affidavit states. He continued to threaten the victim and her mother.

The fourth victim received the same threats as the other victims. This victim video chatted with Cardona who requested the victim to take off her top, the affidavit states.

A fifth victim reported to the FBI that she had received a text stating, "got everything" with a photo of Cardona's camera roll, which had explicit videos and photos of the victim. Two of the four videos of the victim were taken when she was a minor, the affidavit states. Cardona also texted the victim's boyfriend and threaten him as well.

"Tell (victim) to answer me. if not I am gonna show her parents everything and get both of you in so much trouble and ruin her modeling career. Only you can save her," Cardona told the victim's boyfriend.

The investigation revealed the IP address used to send the messages belonged to Cardona in Odessa, the affidavit states.

HSI and FBI agents executed a search warrant of Cardona's Odessa home, where they found multiple cell phones. The cell phones had "multiple conversations indicating sextortion as well as multiple sexually explicit photos stored in a hidden folder" on the phones, the affidavit states.

More: FBI urges parents to be vigilant as sexual predators use internet to target children

Cardona was arrested and questioned by the agents. He told agents he "harassed" numerous young girls between the ages of 16 to 21, the affidavit states. He also admitted to hacking the victims' social media accounts, stealing their photos and videos, and threatening to "expose" the victims if they didn't apologize.

The agents showed Cardona screenshots of the messages sent to the victims and he acknowledge to agents he had sent the messages, the affidavit states. Cardone told agents he knew it was against the law to extort people and possess child pornography.

He told agents he "had few friends and wanted to be popular" and "admitted he became angry and began to harass others," the affidavit states.

Cardona was arrested June 1, 2023, on suspicion of sextortion. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the three counts of cyberstalking.

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Texas cyberstalker hacked teens, young women's nude photos, Feds say