An International Falls man has been charged with using an identity theft scheme to lure adults and underage girls into sending him nude photos.
Cory Nicholas Maish, 36, took on the identity of another man to create social media profiles to contact his victims and ask for nude photos, according to a criminal complaint.
The charges of possession of child pornography, identity theft and other crimes involve two victims, but others could be involved as well, authorities said.
One victim came forward last October to tell authorities that Maish had started contacting her when she was in seventh grade using a Facebook profile bearing another man's name, according to the complaint.
The victim and Maish would exchange photos. She then sent him photos via Snapchat, but later asked him to delete them. After blocking him online, she came across the profile Maish was allegedly using and told her mother. Her mother contacted the profile and the person running it denied having any involvement with her daughter. The owner of the account said that someone had been using his profile to solicit nude photos of girls and that he had told notified authorities.
Police then informed the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. A detective obtained two IP addresses from the Snapchat account and found that the subscriber was Maish.
On Oct. 14, authorities searched Maish's residence in International Falls. They found equipment that contained the fake social media profiles that Maish allegedly had been using, as well as hundreds of child porn images.
Maish later told authorities that he had used the accounts to obtain photographs of underage girls, according to the complaint.
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is asking anyone who believes they might have been a victim to call 877-996-6222.
Beatrice Dupuy • 612-673-1707
