Man hacked teen’s email; blackmailed her into stripping

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to blackmailing a 16-year-old girl in Canada to strip naked on a webcam by using information he obtained after hacking into her email account.

Acting Attorney General John Hoffman says Michael Van Culin, 32, of Monroeville, pleaded guilty Monday to manufacturing child pornography.

Hoffman says Culin used information gathered in online conversations with the girl from a town in Ontario north of Toronto to hack into her email with password decoding software. He blackmailed her into stripping by threatening to give information to her family and then recorded her.

Authorities say he also blackmailed girls in Arizona, Philadelphia, Maryland and Seattle.

The state will recommend he be sentenced to 10 years in prison and be required to register as a sex offender.

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