College football news: Penn State players subject of sexual extortion, per report

At least two Penn State players were the subjects of alleged sexual extortion, according to search warrants reported by Centre Daily Times.

Last September, one of the athletes met a woman on a dating app.

The student and the woman exchanged sexually explicit images with each other, and the woman then extorted the student by threatening to publish the pictures online.

The woman allegedly told the student, “If you don’t do what I tell you to do, I’m going to expose you. I’ll post your picture under Coach Franklin’s page,” according to documents, via The Athletic.

The woman demanded the player send her additional photos, which he did out of fear she would publish his pictures on social media.

Police said there were more than two dozen videos and photos sent to the woman, including videos of group sex and of undressed players in the Penn State football locker room.

A link to the material was posted to some Instagram accounts and the woman replied to a tweet on head coach James Franklin's Twitter account, tagging the personal account of one of the players.

“University Police and Public Safety were alerted to a sexual extortion crime targeting Penn State student-athletes in September 2021, and have been investigating the matter since then, using forensics in an attempt to identify both victims and suspects,” a Penn State University spokesman said in a statement.

“In this case, individuals were drawn into an online conversation that escalated into extortion. Sexual extortion crimes in which individuals are coerced into sharing intimate images or videos are a national issue and similar incidents have victimized people in other places in the U.S.

“Police ask that media and others refrain from speculating about individuals who were targeted in these crimes. No additional information can be shared at this time due to an open investigation.”

(h/t Centre Daily Times)

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