A Blair County man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on several counts of production of child pornography and exploitation of minors.
Jacob Kolonis, 27, of Duncansville is the sole defendant in the 16-count indictment unsealed Monday.
He’s accused of interstate transmission of an extortion communication, production and attempted production of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, receipt of that material and transfer of obscene material to a minor.
Kolonis, a former intern with the men’s basketball team at Washington & Jefferson College, could be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison, a $4 million fine, or both.
According to the indictment, in August and November of 2019 and February of this year, Kolonis knowingly transmitted threatening communications to seven girls with the intent to extort them.
Federal authorities said, in addition to communicating threats via the intent to extort, Kolonis attempted to produce and produced live video depictions of the sexual exploitation of three of the minor females in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
He also received material depicting their sexual exploitation, and transferred and attempted to transfer obscene material to them.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
“The safety of our students and our community is of utmost importance, and we take this matter very seriously,” said W&J spokeswoman Erin Jones, who referred questions to law enforcement. “We do not believe any member of the W&J community was put at risk by these alleged actions.”
