Thousand Oaks man gets 19 years in online sex case involving minors
A Thousand Oaks man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for violent sex crimes against two teenage girls whom he was accused of sexually extorting online.
Connor Joseph Kerns, 21, was sentenced Tuesday in a Ventura courtroom. He had previously pled guilty to three felony charges: forcible rape, forcible oral copulation on a minor over age 14 and forcible sexual acts on a minor under 14.
Prosecutors said Kerns contacted a 16-year-old girl through the Snapchat messaging application in July 2021 and conversed with her repeatedly before coercing her into sending him sexually provocative pictures of herself. Another Snapchat user with the name Dexter — who in reality was Kerns — allegedly contacted the girl, saying he had hacked Kerns’ account. He threatened to post the victim’s provocative pictures online unless she agreed to send him nude images of herself, according to a news release from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
Authorities said she complied but then Kerns used the second account to demand that the girl engage in numerous sexual acts with him in person. She did so out of fear to end the abuse but ultimately contacted law enforcement after he continued making demands, prosecutors said.
Officials said they later learned that he had used similar tactics in January 2022 to victimize a 13-year-old girl from Los Angeles County. The girl told her parents, who reported it to the Los Angeles Police Department. He was arrested about six months later and charged with multiple felonies in Ventura County Superior Court, officials said.
Prosecutor Benjamin Moreno said the severity of the sentence highlights what he called the defendant's "appalling crimes while demonstrating the perils of social media."
"This sentence sends a clear message that such despicable acts won't be tolerated, and sexual predators will face full prosecution," he said in a statement. "We hope it serves as a reminder to parents to stay vigilant and discuss social media risks with their children.”
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Thousand Oaks man gets 19 years in online sex case involving minors
