Miami, Florida – A Fort Lauderdale man who blackmailed girls as young as 13 into having sex with him and other minor girls into sending him pornographic videos and images of themselves pled guilty today in federal district court in Ft. Lauderdale to child exploitation crimes.
Defendant Breshawn Hamilton, 21, admitted that from October 2019 through November 2020, he used Instagram and other social networking platforms to meet and communicate with at least seven girls between the ages of 11 and 15. During these conversations, Hamilton misrepresented his age, often pretending to be younger than he actually was in order to gain the minors’ trust. He would then convince the minors to send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. After obtaining the images and videos, Hamilton threatened to disseminate them unless the minors agreed to meet him for sexual intercourse or continue to provide him with additional videos and images. Even when the minors complied, Hamilton still disseminated the videos and images in question. Law enforcement confirmed that Hamilton met with some of the minor victims who resided in the Fort Lauderdale area in person and raped them, often in their own homes. At times, Hamilton recorded himself having sex with the minors.
Hamilton pled guilty to two counts of enticing a minor, four counts of production of child pornography, three counts of sending interstate extortionate threats, and one count of possession of child pornography. Hamilton is scheduled for sentencing at 9:00 a.m. on October 27, 2021, before U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith, who sits in Fort Lauderdale. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office, announced the guilty plea.
HSI Miami’s Ft. Lauderdale office investigated the case with assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Broward Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit, and the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorney Ajay Alexander is prosecuting 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 the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
You may find related court documents and information on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-60010.
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