Nearby: Another Brentwood Sexting Sentence

U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry sentenced Brentwood Borough resident Russell Freed today, Monday, Oct. 1, to 20 years in federal prison for using a young female relative's cellphone and Facebook identity to solicit sexual images of minors, KDKA is reporting.

According to the news station, McVerry agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig W. Haller that Freed, 44, was especially cruel in getting young girls, including his own relative, to send him the photos. Thus, McVerry issued the lengthy sentence.

First, Freed would impersonate his relative to get photos from her friends. Then, he would get more photos by threatening to share the originals.

His relative, who did not know that he was behind the scheme, told Freed about the incident and said that she was considering suicide, but he extorted photos from her anyway.

Read KDKA's full report here.

Less than two weeks ago, on Sept. 18, Baldwin Borough resident Daniel Edward Ford pleaded guilty to unlawful contact with minor-sexual offenses for his role in a case involving nude cellphone photos of five Brentwood Middle School girls. Ford was sentenced to 1-2 years of confinement and eight years of probation.

Freed, on the other hand, will be on probation for life.

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