Salem man pleads guilty to blackmailing local teens for sex photos

A Salem man pleaded guilty to charges he blackmailed local teens to send naked pictures to him.

Dylan James Krupitzer, 20, was charged last year after police said he contacted a 16-year-old girl in 2019 through a social media account and demanded she send him pornographic pictures of herself. Police said Krupitzer claimed he had access to other illicit pictures of her and threatened to release them publicly if she did not comply.

Investigators said the teen eventually sent Krupitzer multiple pictures and a video in which she performed a sexual act.

Police said Krupitzer was a former student at Greensburg-Salem High School, where the teen was enrolled at the time of the crime.

A search of Krupitzer’s Snapchat account also found multiple illicit pictures of a 12-year-old girl and evidence that he sent those images to other people, according to court records.

Krupitzer pleaded guilty to 25 counts, including multiple offenses of possession of child pornography and use of a computer to disseminate child pornography.

According to court records, police were informed of the blackmail incident after the girl told her mother. Krupitzer was arrested after police interviewed him and acquired records of his Snapchat account detailing his correspondence with the girl.

In a separate case, Krupitzer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two harassment counts in connection with claims made by two other students in which he also demanded they send him pornographic pictures.

Krupitzer’s cases were scheduled for trial in October.

Westmoreland County Judge Scott Mears said he will conduct a sentencing hearing for Krupitzer in three months.

Krupitzer will remain free on a $100,000 bond, which, according to court records, he posted in March 2020.