An elderly woman from Tennessee is accused of sextorting a teen boy from Minnesota, according to authorities.
The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office reportedly was notified of a financial sextortion plot involving a 17-year-old boy in Linwood Township on Sept. 30, 2022.
The woman allegedly threatened to share the explicit photos with his friends and family if he didn’t pay her money.
The victim — now 19 years old — allegedly began communicating with an unknown woman online.
KMSP-TV reported that the boy sent nude photos of himself to the woman. The woman allegedly threatened to share the explicit photos with his friends and family if he didn’t pay her money.
Authorities said the geriatric alleged sextortionist demanded he send money to her Venmo account, after which the teen purportedly sent an initial payment of $1,700.
The alleged victim ended up sending the woman a total of $2,204.54 by September 2022, according to law enforcement.
Authorities identified 70-year-old Stephanie Godby as the alleged sextortion suspect.
Law enforcement reportedly linked Godby’s birth date, social security number, phone number, and address to the Venmo account that received payments from the boy.
Police have yet to locate Godby.
Godby — of Dandridge, Tennessee — was charged in absentia with one count of coercion and one count of theft by swindle.
Law enforcement noted that there could be additional sextortion victims. Godby’s Venmo account had received similar payments from people around the country, according to subpoenaed records.
According to the records, one payment sent to Godby’s Venmo account had a message that read: “Leave my husband alone for good, this is all you’re getting from me.”
Detectives are still investigating the alleged sextortion scheme and are attempting to collect additional information regarding her bank account and phone records.
Law enforcement did not disclose how the alleged victim and Godby initially met.
The FBI defines financially motivated sextortion as: “When predators pose as someone else online to coerce victims into taking and sending sexually explicit photos and videos — and then immediately demand payment or threaten to release the photo to the victim’s family and friends.”
According to FBI data, financially motivated sextortion victims are typically males between the ages of 14 and 17.
From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations had received over 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors. The sextortion schemes involved at least 12,600 victims — mostly boys — and led to at least 20 suicides.
As Blaze News reported in August, a young man from Pennsylvania allegedly believed he had met a girl online and sent her sexually explicit images of himself. However, the recipients of his photos reportedly turned out to be two Nigerian males who were financially sextorting the alleged victim — who committed suicide after not having enough money for the blackmail demand.
Blaze News previously reported about a 16-year-old Mississippi boy who committed suicide after being hoodwinked in a sextortion scheme in 2023.
In 2022, a 17-year-old Michigan boy committed suicide after falling victim to a sextortion scheme orchestrated by three Nigerian men.
South Carolina state lawmaker Rep. Brandon Guffey (R) lost his 17-year-old son, Gavin Guffey, to suicide in 2022 because of a sextortion scheme.
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Sextortion, Sexual abuse, Child sex abuse, Child sex crimes, Blackmail, Financial sextortion, Crime, Elderly woman, Tennessee
