One Direction Impostor Targeted Girls Online: Police

A 45-year-old Waterbury, Conn., man is accused of posing online as a member of the popular boy band One Direction to entice young girls into performing sex acts.

John Eastman was arraigned in Superior Court on Thursday on charges including employing a minor in an obscene performance.

According to an arrest warrant, Eastman used the screen name Harry.Styles888 on Skype and had pictures of the One Direction singer on his computer, which were used to convince children he was the star, the Waterbury Republican-American reports.

Authorities said Eastman would sometimes offer concert tickets in exchange for children posing naked or performing sex acts online. 

According to police, Eastman admitted to making up more accounts and posing as One Direction members. When girls asked to see him on a web cam, Eastman had old video footage, police said.

They said Eastman's web cam captured pornographic images of children believed to be as young as 5 years old.

Eastman was also charged with enticing a minor by computer, misrepresenting his age to entice a minor, illegal possess child pornography and risk of injury to child, according to online court records.

He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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