A Sunnyvale man charged with posing as the father of several teen girls in order to see them in provocative sexual pictures did not enter a plea in court on Tuesday, while prosecutors asked a judge to increase his bail to $150,000.
Scott Angelo, 29, would not speak to NBC Bay Area outside the Santa Cruz County courthouse after his arraignment. A judge set a new court date for Friday, so that lawyers can argue over whether to increase his bail from $50,000. He is currently out of custody.
Angelo, who has been nicknamed "Fake Daddy," was arrested July 10 on three felony and four misdemeanor counts related to allegedly tricking teen girls into sexting him photos, according to Ryan Kennedy of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. The charges of possessing obscene material and annoying children younger than 18 stem from three Santa Cruz 15-year-olds.
After court on Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Michael Gilman said investigators are still searching Angelo's computer for more evidence, but at this point, the ruse appears to be "fairly sophisticated." Gilman said the IP addresses that Angelo allegedly used showed a fake address, which led investigators to a P.O. Box in San Francisco.
The sheriff's office released of one of the alleged texts Angelo sent while trying to trick the girls into believing they were talking to their own fathers.
"Hi it's Dad. This is my new number..." the text said. "One of my co worker's daughter has her own swimwear line. She wanted me to ask you if you would be interested in helping her promote her stuff."
Deputies said Angelo would then give another number where he would solicit provocative photos from the teens.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office has identified at least five victims in the area, and at least one victim in Maryland and Indiana.
Deputies said more than 50 sexually explicit photos have been recovered. It's still unclear how Angelo picked his alleged victims or found them, but it is believed social media likely played a role, officials said.
In 2006, Angelo was convicted of unlawful sex with a minor and oral sex with a minor. He was sentenced to six months in prison for the sex crimes.
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NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez contributed to this report.
