Sextortion—it's not just limited to creepy guys you've never met in real life; now even people you know are getting in on the act.

Back on April 7 of this year, a woman in Dover, New Hampshire called the police. Someone had broken into her house and stolen her MacBook Pro—normal enough in the grand scheme of criminal behavior—but also some of her underwear. Disconcerting. Making it even worse was the victim's knowledge that her now-stolen laptop contained not just e-mails and Web browsing history, but several years' worth of private, sexual pictures of her and several partners. But perhaps the underwear-and-laptop thief wouldn't find them.

Months passed. The computer was not recovered, but the situation hadn't gotten any worse—until the e-mails arrived. They began on July 10, coming from a Gmail address. "What if I told you I have 'pics' of you?" one asked. "Like a lot. Would you send me more?" A second e-mail added that the victim was "crazy hot"—unlikely to be much of a compliment coming from a random Internet creepo asking for more nude pictures.

They began corresponding, the woman trying to figure out how the guy had gotten her photos, which were stored only on her computer. (He sent her several of the unpublished photos as proof of his claim.) The guy on the other end of the Gmail account never admitted to burgling her home; he claimed that some random person with a craigslist account had just happened to send him the pictures.

"Send me more," he demanded.

Stringing him along

The local Dover police got involved, with a detective helping the victim to play the scenario out for time, convincing the perp to get explicit about his blackmailing intentions. After asking what sort of pictures he wanted—and getting a list in response, the victim e-mailed on July 11 to ask: "And if I do that you'll tell me who e-mailed you?" The stalker said he would.

He quickly grew impatient with this game, though; he demanded photos. ("Sneak in to a ladies' room somewhere really quick and snap some hot sexy photos for me.") Or better—some videos. ("Get loud for me.")

To keep the conversation going, the victim acted like she might comply. On July 12, following Dover police advice, she sent a picture of her face and one of her stomach as teasers.

By July 16, the Secret Service, working out of its Manchester, New Hampshire office, had gotten involved and were guiding the victim's actions. She asked her stalker for an explicit description of what he would do if she didn't send the material he wanted.

"You know I thought more about it and I'm a little concerned about who else you may be sending these photos to," she wrote. "I still don't even understand how you have them to begin with and if they get out it'll ruin my reputation. I'm trying to start a new life and this would absolutely fuck everything up I'm trying to accomplish."

The message struck a nerve. The stalker replied: "Alright be like that then, see what i do with these . . . think im a sick bastard? then im going to act like one. familiar with doxing? look it up, have fun!... definition of DOXING leaking Personal information about people on the Internet, often including real name, known aliases, email addresses, general location, pictures..." He then mentioned the name of the woman's young child and provided their home address; he threatened to send the woman's sexual photos to her employer, former husband, and current boyfriend.

On the advice of the Secret Service, the woman retreated, apologizing for being "a little nasty earlier" and saying that she needed to protect her family.

"Yeah i agree," replied her stalker, "so i bet now youre more willing to comply to my request? see we do have a thing going. If you're still willing to do your portfolio. Im still here to help."

Uh, I know him!

In the background, of course, the Secret Service was identifying the sextortionist with the most obvious tool in their toolbox: the IP address lookup. On July 16, Google came back with the IP addresses that accessed the stalker's Gmail account. One resolved to the US Navy, another one to Comcast.

So on to the Navy—where NCIS apparently got involved in the hunt—and to Comcast, which on July 16 also provided a lookup. The Comcast IP address was assigned to a woman with the last name of Villegas, living in the nearby town of Kittery, Maine—about 12 miles from Dover.

This wasn't a random hit; the victim actually knew the woman. Indeed, it was one of her friends—and the friend's husband worked for the US Navy.

With the information in hand, the Secret Service moved quickly. On July 17, an agent filed an affidavit with a judge and obtained an arrest warrant for the husband, John Bryan Villegas. Villegas was arrested the next day and hauled before a federal magistrate, where he swore that he lacked the money to defend himself and was appointed a federal defender. Bail conditions include limited travel and no use of computers or Internet-connected smartphones.

If found guilty of being the sextortionist, Villegas could face up to seven total years in prison for making threats and for computer intrusion, and up to $500,000 in restitution.