Waxahachie Man Sentenced to Four Years in Federal Prison for Extorting Women for Sexually Explicit Photographs and Videos

In El Paso, a federal judge sentenced 32–year-old James Alger of Waxahachie, TX, to four years in federal prison for his scheme to extort females into sending him sexually explicit photos and videos, announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash and FBI Special Agent in Charge Luis Quesada, El Paso Division.   

On December 6, 2019, Senior U.S. District Judge David Briones sentenced Alger to two years imprisonment for wire fraud, cyberstalking, and interstate communications with intent to extort followed by two years imprisonment for aggravated identity theft.  Judge Briones also ordered that Alger be placed on supervised release for a period of three years after completing his prison term. 

On April 2, 2019, Alger pleaded guilty to all four charges.  By pleading guilty, Alger admitted that from 2016 to 2018, he messaged over 1,000 women he found through social media in an effort to obtain sexually explicit videos and pictures of them.  Alger admitted that he would pretend to be one of several wealthy, famous individuals who would then offer to pay a large sum of money to have sex with the women he targeted.  He managed to convince over 100 women to send him nude photos and videos, then subsequently demanded his victims continue sending him more sexually explicit videos and photos or he would release the explicit material in his possession to the victim’s friends and family. 

The FBI conducted this investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Hanna prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.