A 37-year-old Orlando man was sentenced to life in prison for threatening dozens of minors that he would kidnap, rape, and kill them if they did not send him sexually explicit photos and videos through Snapchat.
Andre Maurice Lewis was sentenced to life in prison this week by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron for enticement of a minor after he pled guilty in August.
According to the plea agreement, in January 2021, Lewis initiated a Snapchat conversation with the 12-year-old daughter of an acquaintance. Lewis did not reveal his true identity to the child and claimed to be 20 years old.
Despite the child telling Lewis that she was 12, he expressed an interest in meeting with the child for sex. The child refused his sexual advances and told Lewis that he was making her uncomfortable, stating that she was “just a little girl.”
Lewis continued to harass the child and threatened to tell her parents about their Snapchat conversation unless she followed his instructions. Lewis then provided evidence that he knew the child’s parent in order to convince her that his threat was credible.
The child says that out of fear, she produced a live-streamed, sexually explicit video of herself and sent it to Lewis.
During their investigation, authorities discovered that Lewis had previously communicated about sex with dozens of individuals who told him they were minors. Seven of those individuals specifically told Lewis to leave them alone, to which he responded with threats to kidnap, rape, and kill them if they did not cooperate.
In other instances, Lewis accompanied his threats with pictures of handguns and magazines, and maps of the minors’ homes to confirm he knew where they lived.