PA man faces fed stalking, porn charges

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A former Pennsylvania Catholic high school football coach faces federal charges in two states after allegedly extorting people in Michigan into engaging in explicit acts via the Internet.

Joseph Ostrowski was indicted on cyber-stalking charges Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, court documents show.

The indictment alleges that between March 2010 and December 2011, Ostrowski hacked Facebook accounts and posed as the account holder in order to trick people into engaging in explicit behavior.

The 28-year-old allegedly "persuaded and tricked" people in East Lansing into "engaging in sexually explicit acts on their 'Skype' accounts," which he then recorded without their knowledge.

Ostrowski then allegedly used the hacked Facebook accounts to distribute images of the explicit acts and tell the victims what he had done.

In May, Ostrowski was indicted on federal charges of producing and attempting to produce child pornography and interstate extortion in a Pennsylvania federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

According to those court documents, “the defendant did knowingly use, persuade, induce, and entice a person under the age of 18 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct," WNEP in Pennsylvania reported at the time.

If convicted of the child pornography charges, Ostrowski could spend up to 30 years in prison. If convicted of the interstate extortion charge, he could spend up to two years in prison.

Ostrowski was a a football coach at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., WNEP reported.