BENTON — A 44-year-old Wayne County man was sentenced Monday in federal court in Benton to 75 years in prison after he was found guilty of conducting a sextortion scheme on Facebook with multiple victims ranging in ages from 11 to 17 years old.

A federal jury in the Southern District of Illinois convicted Michael A. Ferris, of Mill Shoals, in November 2022 on 25 felony counts of extortion, cyberstalking, and production, distribution, and possession of child pornography. Following his prison sentence, he will serve the rest of his life on supervised release.

As part of his scheme, Ferris created fake Facebook personas appearing to be teenage girls.

He joined Facebook groups for teenagers or young survivors of sexual abuse and sent unsolicited messages to teenage girls under the guise of being a peer looking to make a new friend. If the teens responded, Ferris tried to convince them to send a nude photograph or answer personal questions about themselves.

Ferris then used that information as leverage to coerce them into sending more explicit photos, answering more sexual questions, or performing sexual acts while Ferris watched on video chat.

If his victims refused to comply, or pleaded to stop, Ferris harassed and threatened them until they kept going, usually threatening to send the girls’ photos or answers to personal questions to their friends, parents, police, or child protective services.

Even after Ferris’ victims complied with his demands, he would often still distribute their sexually explicit images to friends and family.

The investigation was conducted by agents from Homeland Security Investigations—Springfield with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations domestic and international offices, Jefferson County Illinois Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, and other agencies across the country.