Discord User “Catfished” Young Victims: 21 Years In Prison for Production of Child Pornography

WNC -- June 5, 2024: U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Dena J. King, announced

Wednesday that Aaron Joseph Wehrstein, 25, of Columbus, North Carolina, has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for producing child pornography. In addition, Wehrstein was mandated to serve a lifetime of supervised release, pay a $5,000 special assessment, make amends to the victims of his offense, and register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

U.S. Attorney King is joined in delivering today's statement by Cardell T. Morant, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in North Carolina and South Carolina, and Sheriff Timothy Wright of the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Law enforcement received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) informing them that a person going by the screen name JessicaLovesYou#1816 was using Discord to distribute child pornography, according to court documents and information presented during the sentencing hearing. Discord is a well-known free app that lets users text, call, and share media files via communities or private chats. There are also phone and video call features.

According to court documents, law enforcement launched an investigation and identified Wehrstein as the Discord user. The research also showed that Wehrstein would transmit sexually graphic pictures of women to gullible adolescents via Discord, pretending to be a woman, and making claims to the individual in those photos. The young victims would then be coerced by Wehrstein to send him pornographic photos and videos of themselves in exchange.

When police conducted a search warrant at Wehrstein's home in September 2021, they seized a number of electronic devices. According to a forensic examination of those devices, Wehrstein not only used Discord but also Twitter to interact with juveniles and get child pornography that the victims had made. Wehrstein had more than 4,197 photos and videos of child pornography in total. The investigation also found that Wehrstein had created and sent him child pornography over Discord and Twitter, coercing at least eight male victims, ages 12 to 17.

Source: Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney's Office