Revenge porn case: Gilbert man held on $500,000 bail; investigation reveals possible additional victims

Judge sets $500k bail for AZ revenge porn suspect

A man is accused of hacking a 15-year-old's social media to post explicit images.

GILBERT, Ariz. - It's a troubling case of alleged teenage revenge porn in the East Valley as a 19-year-old man is facing more than two dozen charges. He's accused of harassing and sexually exploiting a girl, who was 15 years old at the time. 

Elijah DeShong was arrested on April 19 after a yearlong investigation by the Gilbert Police Department. There appears to be more than one victim, and he may be connected to similar crimes in Mesa.

The backstory:

This week, DeShong faced a judge in court and learned what’s ahead of him: 34 charges, including computer tampering, aggravated harassment, identity theft and sexual exploitation of a minor.

DeShong is accused of hacking into a then-15-year-old girl's social media accounts. Posting nude and sexual pictures and videos online – and sending some to friends and her father, a counselor and her school history teacher, along with violating a restraining order.

Gilbert PD arrest suspect in teen cyber harassment case

Police say 19-year-old Elijah Deshong repeatedly harassed a girl by tampering with her social media accounts and sharing explicit images of her online.

What they're saying:

It’s the kind of case Katey McPherson deals with almost every day.

"I mean, that’s what I teach every day. It is like when should I get my kid? When should I get social media when they’re 45 years old because this is not appropriate for kids they can’t handle it," said youth safety advocate Katey McPherson.

"So there is a fragility amongst our young male population, I would say, ages 15 to 25, when they’re broken up with like some of their reactions are like, well, if I can’t have her, I don’t want anybody else to have her," McPherson said. "I mean, as it’s trauma.. I mean it’s reputation ruining. I mean, what if you go to get a job and that’s on the Internet? I mean it’s a big deal. It’s on their digital footprint."

McPherson says this can happen to any teen — anytime — anywhere. Smartphones and dumb decisions — forcing kids to grow up too fast. She preaches parental control.

"Parents have to be on top of this. They have to be supervising phones. There’s so much going on. I mean our kids are literally under attack. Like how do you even run past the interference for yourself when someone has created something like this is out there. There’s no way to take it back," McPherson said.

What's next:

The takeitdown.org website can help you remove explicit material from the internet. 

We are waiting for more information from both the Gilbert and Mesa police departments on this case, but for now,DeShong has been booked into jail and is being held on a $500,000 bail.