Los Angeles has sentenced 29-year-old Tyler Blackburn to five years in prison. Blackburn scammed gay and bisexual men in and around Los Angeles by placing “bait” ads offering sexual services, then extorted the men who responded.NBC reports that Blackburn’s scheme spanned six years and multiple states, though he focused mainly on Southern California.
Blackburn took advantage of such websites as Craigslist and Backpage to perpetrate his crimes. Once a victim contacted him by phone, Blackburn would illicit sexual messages that could be potentially embarrassing to his target and/or offering sex for money.