A Silver Spring man who coerced more than 100 girls to produce and send him graphic and sexually explicit images and videos online pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to two counts of producing child sexual abuse material, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said in a press release.
Chase William Mulligan, 28, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a statutory maximum of 60 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Aug. 27, the release said. As part of the plea, Mulligan will also register as a sex offender.
Craig M. Kadish, Mulligan’s attorney, was not available to comment when Bethesda called his office today Wednesday morning.
Mulligan coerced more than 100 girls between the ages of 5 and 17 to send him sexually explicit photographs and videos of themselves, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office. Using numerous social media accounts on Snapchat, Discord, Roblox, Skype, Omegle and Instagram, Mulligan met girls online between 2019 and December 2023 and then “sextorted” them by threatening to post the sexually graphic images and videos online or to come to their homes.
Many of the girls whom Mulligan contacted lived in the United States, while several lived in countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Spain, the Philippines and the United Kingdom, according to the release.
FBI Special Agent William J. DelBagno described Mulligan in the release as a “depraved and dangerous predator.”
“His abhorrent behavior is not diminished by the fact he was thousands of miles away and never met his victims, rather, it’s the opposite,” DelBagno said. “Despite his distance, he presents a serious threat to any child he can access through the internet.”
In one case, Mulligan coerced two 12-year-old girls who were friends and lived in Tennessee into producing and sending him sexually explicit videos of themselves over Snapchat, according to plea documents. The videos included a video of the 5-year-old sister of one of the girls.
In August 2023, the FBI’s field office in Knoxville, Tennessee, received information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol regarding an online child exploitation investigation, plea documents state. After the report, investigators interviewed the victims and reviewed their Snapchat conversations and screenshots of messages with Mulligan.
Investigators then submitted administrative subpoenas to Snapchat to get subscriber information and Internet Protocol addresses for the account Mulligan used. Investigators were able to trace those IP addresses to Mulligan’s Silver Spring residence as well as a Rehoboth Beach home that is owned by Mulligan’s family, according to plea documents.
On Dec. 20, 2023, a search warrant was executed at Mulligan’s residence and law enforcement seized 22 devices that were in his bedroom or on his person, including several iPhones, two hard drives and a laptop.
“In total, law enforcement identified at least 15,000 files of [child sex abuse materials], including images and videos of prepubescent minors, saved on Mulligan’s devices,” plea documents state. “Of that total, law enforcement identified over 1,000 files of [child sex abuse materials] produced by Mulligan.”
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said in the release that Mulligan used “manipulation, fear, and intimidation to exploit” the victims.
“Now we must ensure that we send a clear message to Mulligan, and others, that those who abuse the most vulnerable members of our communities will pay a steep price,” Hayes said. “We’re committed to working with our law-enforcement partners to relentlessly pursue, prosecute, and bring to justice those who engage in these deplorable acts.”
The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a national Department of Justice initiative aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse, the release said. For information regarding internet safety education, sextortion and resources for victims of crimes, visit the Project Safe Childhood’s resources webpage.
