21-Year-Old Texas Man Sentenced to Over 24 Years in Federal Prison for Sexually Exploiting Juvenile Boys

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin man was sentenced in federal court to 292 months in prison for sexually exploiting numerous male minors, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas.

According to court documents, Tre Von Lamount Harris, 21, used several social media platforms as well as Cash App to entice and extort minor male victims to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing and transmitting visual depictions. Harris, who began his sexual exploitation scheme at the age of 16, falsely posed as a teenaged female named "Michelle" on platforms including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.

Communicating with his victims as "Michelle," Harris used graphic and explicit language to describe the nature of the visual depictions he wanted them to produce and send him. Victims would self-produce the child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and send it to Harris through their social media accounts. Harris would then send the victims extortionate threats to coerce them to pay him or else he would post the CSAM online or send it to their family and friends, which Harris did, in fact, follow through on.

Harris was arrested by the Travis County Sheriff's Office on May 31, 2022, on two counts of sexual assault and one count of publishing or threatening to publish invasive visual recordings related to the employment of the same scheme under the fictitious name, "Karla". A Travis County judge released him on a $5,000 cash bond and removed a GPS monitoring condition originally imposed. Harris was also allowed to attend high school.

Beginning in December 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received several CyberTip reports from social media providers and private citizens regarding CSAM activity involving one or more of Harris's online usernames. The FBI learned of the NCMEC complaints in May 2023 and conducted an extensive investigation which included interviews with multiple victims. Harris was arrested on federal charges on May 21, 2024, at his high school.

"Tre Von Harris will spend more than a decade of his young adult life behind bars because he hid behind a fake profile to humiliate and sexually exploit teenage boys for profit, continuing to do so even after he was caught the first time," said U.S. Attorney Simmons. "American children are active all across social media and, as this case proves, they do not always know who is on the other end. As parents, we must be educated and stay involved with our children's online activities. This case was possible because parents did just that. Together, we can stop predators and protect our children."

"This sentence reflects the seriousness of the suffering and harm inflicted on these victims and ensures the defendant is held accountable," said FBI San Antonio Special Agent in Charge Daniel Faith. "We hope this outcome provides a measure of closure to the victims and their families while sending a clear message that those who use the anonymity of the internet and sextortion schemes to exploit children will not be tolerated. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to relentlessly pursue offenders who believe they can hide behind a screen and prey on children without consequences."

The FBI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Devlin prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.

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