A 25-year-old Franklin County man was sentenced to 22 months in prison and three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to hacking Snapchat accounts belonging to at least 20 women and sending their private pictures to others, according to the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Reginald “Reggie” Adams, of Chambersburg, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Jan 30 after an investigation determined he hacked at least 20 Snapchat accounts between May 2020 and August 2021, according to a press release.

Adams targeted women he knew from high school and would trick them into giving him their Snapchat account security codes by posing as Snapchat officials through anonymous text messages, the release said.

After receiving the account codes, Adams would log in to the victims’ Snapchat accounts and change their passwords, locking them out of the accounts. Then, he would find sexually explicit pictures - often in the “My Eyes Only” section, which is hidden - and share them with friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances of the victims, the press release said.

In some cases, Adams posted the private pictures to public websites with the victims’ contact information, causing the victims to receive unsolicited messages from strangers, the US Attorney’s Office said. Adams also exploited some of the victims by promising to pay for the sexually explicit pictures and then using the pictures to further extort the women.

“It’s truly hard to understand why someone would be this cruel,” said US Attorney Jacqueline Romero. “What’s crystal clear, though, is that Reginald Adams respects the law as little as he respects women. Again and again, he deliberately targeted, tricked, and took the most personal of photos from his victims, posting them online, violating their privacy, and causing significant emotional distress.

“We and our partners at the FBI take crimes like this incredibly seriously, and we’re committed to seeking justice for victims and accountability for cyber predators like Adams.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Sarah M. Wolfe.

 - TNS