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Court documents say the man met one of the victims while playing the first-person shooter videogame Valorant.
ARLINGTON, Va. — A former FBI contractor was indicted Wednesday on child sex crimes by a federal grand jury in Virginia.
According to the Department of Justice, 26-year-old Brett Janes is accused of grooming young boys using chat apps like Discord and Snapchat.
Court documents detail claims that Janes told dozens of boys that he worked for a U.S. intelligence agency before threatening suicide if the boys did not continue to speak with him.
One of the victims, identified as a 13-year-old boy, reportedly met Janes through a first-person shooter video game called Valorant. Janes allegedly enticed the victim to do sexually explicit acts over a live video call by threatening to kill himself and paying the boy money using CashApp.
Officials say another victim, identified as a 12-year-old boy, sent explicit material over Discord after Janes enticed the boy through "flattery and repeated begging."
Janes is also accused of trying to meet up with another victim and purchasing hundreds of videos and images of abuse material using the chat platform Telegram.
Janes has been charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of children and production of CSAM, one count of attempted coercion and enticement, and one count of receipt of child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Anyone who believes they or someone they know may have been victimized by Janes is asked to contact the FBI at 202-278-2000 and ask to speak to the child exploitation and human trafficking task force.
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