PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — A 24-year-old Port St. Lucie man is facing a possible life sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges that he coerced minors to engage in sexual acts and produced child porn.
Richard Eugene Fye is scheduled to be sentenced in June. He had been arrested after a Jan. 31 search by authorities found 200 suspected child pornography videos on his cellphone and laptop computer.
Authorities say their investigation began in December after a 15-year-old Michigan girl complained that someone claiming to be a 14-year-old Port St. Lucie boy had convinced her to send her nude photos and threatened to forward them to her friends and family if she didn’t send nude videos, too.
A search of IP addresses led authorities to Fye, who pleaded guilty on Thursday.
