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Sailor Stationed in Louisiana Pleads Guilty and Admits Producing Files Depicting the Sexual Victimization of Children, Including Through Extortion

New Orleans, Louisiana – On September 2, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Biagio William Ambrosino, age 20, originally from Queens, New York, who was an enlisted sailor stationed in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, pleaded guilty on September 1, 2022, before United States District Judge Wendy B. Vitter after previously being charged by a federal grand jury for producing images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251(a) (Count 1) and transmitting interstate threats for the purpose of extorting a thing of value, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(b) (Count 2).

The allegations derive from Ambrosino’s implementation of an exploitation and extortion plot to get persons to submit him sexually explicit content between August 2020 and January 2022, according to court documents. Depending on the victims’ ages, cognitive aptitude, level of obedience, and his prior knowledge of them, Ambrosino used a variety of tactics. Ambrosino would prey on people he knew’s friendships or use information he already had about the people and their families to extract sexually graphic depictions from them. Ambrosino would use various methods to find people he didn’t previously know. Ambrosino, for example, would contact certain kids by social media direct message, claiming to be a social media mogul and asking if the minor wanted to “be Instagram famous.”

He would then request a sexually provocative or explicit photograph to demonstrate that the child was serious about becoming famous or receiving a gift. Alternatively, Ambrosino would attract minors with valuable items such as a camera, a lighting system, sponsorship, or plush animals in exchange for taking and sending him sexually explicit images and videos or engaging in sexually explicit behavior while on video chat with him. Ambrosino would extort victims by threatening them with reputational harm or physical violence if they refused to give him sexually graphic depictions or continued to do so. After obtaining sexually explicit content from a victim, Ambrosino continued to demand increasingly explicit, invasive, and humiliating content from his victims.

Following that, Ambrosino distributed some of the sexually graphic images he obtained to other people in exchange for the identities of other possible victims.

Ambrosino acknowledged to victimizing at least eleven people, including nine minors aged ten to seventeen, one of whom had a diagnosed developmental cognitive disability and a speech disability. The victims were identified as residents of eight different states and the country of Australia.

As to Count 1, Ambrosino faces a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment of fifteen years and a maximum term of imprisonment of thirty years, and a maximum term of imprisonment of twenty years as to Count 3. Ambrosino also faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, up to a lifetime of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and the requirement to register as a sex offender. Finally, he must pay a $100 special assessment fee for each count.

Sentencing has been set for December 6, 2022, before Judge Vitter.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to tackle the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood, led by US Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. To learn more about Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

U.S. Attorney Evans lauded the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) for its work in researching this case, which was assisted by the New York Police Department. The prosecution is led by Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.

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