Police: Man exploited girl in Web scam

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MILPITAS, Calif. - A 20-year-old Sycamore man was charged with two felonies last week after police in California reportedly discovered he was extorting an underage girl and forced her to perform sex acts over the Internet. Patrick J. Halsey turned himself in to police in California on Tuesday, according to Milpitas Police Department Sgt. Daryl Sequeira. He was released after posting what was most likely 10 percent of his $150,000 bond, Sequeira said. Halsey faces one charge of extortion and one of use of a minor to perform prohibited acts. According to police, Halsey contacted the victim online and used a scam to steal her e-mail password and take control of her account. He then allegedly threatened to post personal information about the girl online unless she performed sexual acts for him via a web camera. Halsey allegedly recorded the webcam sessions and threatened to further extort the girl. Sequeira declined Friday to elaborate further on the details of the case, reported to Milpitas police on Dec. 8, because the victim is younger than 18. He also declined to give her age. &#8220(Halsey) only made contact a couple times before she reported it to her parents,” Sequeira said. On Feb. 16, Milpitas police traveled to Sycamore and searched Halsey's home and seized his computer equipment. A warrant for Halsey's arrest was issued March 8 out of Santa Clara County, and Sequeira said Halsey drove to California shortly thereafter to surrender. Sycamore police aided in the investigation, as did the FBI because the case crossed state lines. Halsey's computer equipment is in the agency's possession, Sequeira said. He said the investigation turned up no other alleged victims in Milpitas, but federal agents continue to review Halsey's computer equipment. Sycamore Police Chief Don Thomas said his department has &#8220strong concerns” that Halsey may have victimized others with similar scams, but the department isn't aware of any at this time. &#8220This shows the dangers of unsupervised young people on the computer,” Thomas said, adding that the exploitation of children over the Internet and Web-based financial scams are among the fastest-growing crimes in the country. Milpitas is a city of about 65,000 people at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay. Chris Rickert can be reached at crickert@daily-chronicle.com.