A Colorado man who pretended to be a teenager online will spend more than eight decades in federal prison for sexually exploiting children on the internet, federal officials said.
Austin Ryan Lauless coerced, exploited and threatened at least 84 children on social media into producing thousands of sexually explicit images and videos between 2019 and 2023, according to a news release from the Indiana U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The victims include children between the ages of 13 and 17 from nearly every state and at least five other countries, federal officials said in the release. Investigators believe there may still be more undiscovered victims.
Lauless pleaded guilty in September to 13 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, five counts of sex trafficking of a minor, two counts of advertising child sexual abuse material and possession of child sexual abuse material, court records show.
He was sentenced Wednesday to 84 years in federal prison, which will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, according to court records.
Lauless posed as “Cason Fredrickson” and “APOPHIS” on the internet, pretending to be a teenager from New York and other cities, federal officials said. He used photos from public Instagram pages to conceal his real identity: a man in his late 20s who lived in hotels and motels across Colorado and Texas.
The man misrepresented his age, identity, background and likeness to groom minors and create a false sense of safety, federal prosecutors said. He also used voice modulators and third-party image and video apps to edit content and keep up his disguise.
“He feigned romantic interest in victims, told them they were attractive and pretended to be in online relationships,” the news release stated. “He purchased items for many victims through Amazon — including fishnet stockings, sexual devices and customized t-shirts — which he instructed them to wear while producing sexually explicit material.”
Lauless threatened to publicly release the images and videos if his victims failed to comply with his demands or if they tried to tell their parents or law enforcement, federal prosecutors said.
He sold child sex abuse material at least 141 times and admitted to federal investigators that his collection included thousands of photos and videos, including videos of sadomasochistic abuse and bestiality.
“This case represents one of the most egregious forms of exploitation the FBI investigates,” Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. O’Malley of the FBI’s Indianapolis field office said in a statement. “This was not an isolated crime — it was a nationwide and international campaign of exploitation.”
The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative from the U.S. Department of Justice that focuses on battling child sex exploitation and abuse.
Anyone who believes they were, or who believes they know someone who was, a victim of Lauless should contact their local FBI office, call the FBI tip line at 1-800-225-5324 or submit information online at tips.fbi.gov.
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