(CNN) -- A college student was arrested Thursday for allegedly hijacking the webcams of young women -- among them reigning Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf -- taking nude images, then blackmailing his victims to send him more explicit material or else be exposed.
Jared James Abrahams, a 19-year-old computer science student from Temecula, California, surrendered on Thursday to the FBI on federal extortion charges, the agency announced. Authorities say he victimized young women surreptitiously, by taking control of their computers then photographing them as they changed out of their clothes.
Abrahams appeared in court later in the day, then was released "on intensive pretrial supervision and home detention with electronic monitoring" after his parents signed bond agreements totaling $50,000, FBI spokeswoman Lourdes Arocho said. U.S. District Judge Jean Rosenbluth ruled that he could use a single desktop computer at his parents' home for school only, albeit only after monitoring software is applied.
When he admitted what he'd done in June, Abrahams said he had 30 to 40 "slave computers" -- or other people's electronic devices he controlled -- and has had as many as 150 total, according to a criminal complaint.
His arrest came six months after a teenager identified in court documents as C.W. alerted authorities. She has since publicly identified herself as Cassidy Wolf, the recently crowned Miss Teen USA. She touted news reports of her alleged tormenter's arrest on her Twitter feed.
How easy are you making it for hackers?
At the time she contacted police, in March, Wolf was not a national figure -- even though she was Miss Teen California -- and lived in an apartment and attended Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.
Wolf got a Facebook alert that someone had tried to change her password to the social networking site, then noticed other passwords had been changed and that her Twitter avatar was now a half-nude picture of herself.
A short time later, she received what would be the first of many messages, this one featuring pictures of Wolf at her Riverside County address and others apparently taken months earlier when she lived in Orange County, says the criminal complaint. The message explained "what's going to happen" if Wolf didn't send pictures or videos or "do what I tell you to do" in a five-minute Skype videoconference, according to the criminal complaint.
"Either you do one of the things listed below or I upload these pics and a lot more (I have a LOT more and those are better quality) on all your accounts for everybody to see and your dream of being a model will be transformed into a pornstar (sic)," he wrote.
Recalling that day, Wolf told NBC's "Today" show she started "screaming (and) bawling my eyes out."
"I wasn't sure what to do," she said in August, shortly after her Miss Teen USA win. "So it was terrifying."
The messenger had taken great efforts to hide his online identity. But investigators were eventually able to find corresponding e-mails, IP addresses and other communications they linked to Abraham. They also tied him to online forums asking about malware, how to control webcams, and hacking into Facebook accounts.
Investigators also linked him to at least eight other young women -- some of them, like Wolf, from Southern California, though others were from as far away as Moldova. The victims told authorities similar stories: of a person they did not know saying, and in some cases proving, he had nude images and making demands as a result.
The stalker claimed to have 1,000 photographs of one woman, the complaint said. When she asked, "Why are you doing this to me?" the response was, "I told you I'll answer any questions after you Skype."
As an FBI agent was speaking by phone to this young woman, she logged onto her Instagram account to find it populated by nude pictures of her, the complaint said.
A few young women apparently complied with the demands for a Skype session. The man promised not to record the sessions and he made it look like he was erasing the nude pictures of them. One such session was found on the suspect's phone, police said.
Foul-mouthed hacker hijacks baby monitor
Investigators examining e-mail exchanges found one in which an alleged victim wrote she was downloading Skype and pleading, "Please remember im only 17. Have a heart."
"I'll tell you this right now! I do NOT have a heart!!!" he wrote back, per the complaint. "However I do stick to my deals! Also age doesn't mean a thing to me."
Authorities executed a search warrant at Abrahams' home on June 4, at which time he "voluntarily agreed to speak" with a pair of FBI agents. Describing himself in that interview as a college freshman who was good with computers, the complaint said, he admitted using malware and his expertise to "watch his victims change their clothes and ... use the photographs against them."
Abrahams further admitted the e-mail accounts, VPN, domain names or other pieces of the electronic puzzle that investigators used to build a case were his, according to the criminal complaint.
Outside the court Thursday, Abrahams' lawyer Alan Eisner said that his client's family feels "profound regret and remorse" over what happened. He told CNN affiliate KTLA that Abrahams is autistic.
"The family wants to apologize for the consequences of his behavior to the families who were affected," Eisner said.
As to the now 19-year-old Wolf, she is juggling her studies at the New York Film Academy with duties tied to being Miss Teen USA.
A lifelong dancer and aspiring model, Wolf is using her platform to promote a number of initiatives -- including, given her personal experience, the issue of cyberstalking.
"It does happen," she said in an interview with CNN affiliate WPIX. "And there are ways to prevent it."

 Ahtman wrote:
I hope he gets some jail time, I would hate to see this turn into just community service. That had to be horrible for the young women he was terrorizing.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Autism reduces your ability to do social interactions with people.

This guy seems to have had no trouble with his social interactions, just they were creepy and sadistic.

I think it is a slur on autistic people to use it as an explanation or excuse for his behaviour.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Autism reduces your ability to do social interactions with people.

This guy seems to have had no trouble with his social interactions, just they were creepy and sadistic.

I think it is a slur on autistic people to use it as an explanation or excuse for his behaviour.

 NuggzTheNinja wrote:
He will most likely get a job offer out of this.

 Seaward wrote:
Imagine the fun of having to stay in the house with your parents after they bailed you out of jail, where you were placed for doing Requiem for a Dream-type stuff over the internet.

NuggzTheNinja wrote:He will most likely get a job offer out of this.

 azazel the cat wrote:
Possibly. I think the particular nature of what he was doing will be bad enough publicity to make him toxic to many companies looking for his services, though. I'm aware of the common practice of hiring offenders for relevant positions, but generally that requires their crimes to be more sanitized and less offensive to puritan sensibilities.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

Pretty much. 'Autism' is the vogue excuse for teenagers who just have not developed appropriate social skills.

 insaniak wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

Pretty much. 'Autism' is the vogue excuse for teenagers who just have not developed appropriate social skills.

It's really not. While some parents may prefer to accept a diagnosis of ADHD being slapped on their kid a being preferable to accepting that their child is just an undisciplined brat, no parent wants to be told that their child is autistic.

We see an ever increasing number of kids being diagnosed with something on the autism spectrum not because it's 'fashionable' bit simply because diagnosis has become better and more reliable in recent years. A lot of kids who once upon a time would have just been dismissed as being a little odd now have a chance of an actual diagnosis and treatment to help them deal with it. Trivialising that as just being 'in vogue' does a lot of people an incredible disservice.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
...what I was getting at was that some people use the "I have autism" excuse without a diagnosis (or at least not one from a qualified professional - the internet doesn't count) to cover the fact they have not developed their social skills.

 insaniak wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
...what I was getting at was that some people use the "I have autism" excuse without a diagnosis (or at least not one from a qualified professional - the internet doesn't count) to cover the fact they have not developed their social skills.

And what I am getting at is that I very much doubt that 'some' people doing it is the same as it being 'in vogue'...

being or in accordance with current social fashions

 insaniak wrote:
Well, yes... in order for something to be considered a current social trend, it would have to be something that a significant number of people are actually doing. If it's just some guy you know of who did it once, that's not a social trend. That's just some guy.

Or, to put it another way - you claiming that it is 'in vogue' doesn't actually make it so. And making that sort of suggestion without any actual support, once again, does a disservice to those who are actually trying to make their way in the world with an autism spectrum condition. Casting aspersions on someone's motivations for claiming to be autistic when you have no evidence one way or the other causes issues for those who are legitimately autistic.

These people need support, not others questioning whether they are just putting it on to excuse their lack of social graces. That's just ridiculous.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Pretty much. 'Autism' is the vogue excuse for teenagers who just have not developed appropriate social skills. Just like those times when every kid was ADHD, and the rates of people being diagnosed as bi-polar soared

 Talizvar wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Pretty much. 'Autism' is the vogue excuse for teenagers who just have not developed appropriate social skills. Just like those times when every kid was ADHD, and the rates of people being diagnosed as bi-polar soared

ADHD is no joke, my kid it was pretty darn clear.