A top FBI agent took to X on Tuesday to personally plead for more than 900 suspected victims of an accused child- and adult-porn peddler — including athletes, actresses and influencers — to contact the agency.
The move comes six months after Kyle White, 25 — “The Ho Zone” creator and accused perv peddler — was busted for allegedly targeted hundreds of unsuspecting online users by plucking their images and selling them to subscribers on the Telegram messaging app under the name THZ Admin.
Some of the sexually explicit images involved kids as young a 11 and were illegally obtained from adults, the feds said.
“Some of the victims include social media influencers, NCAA and semi-professional athletes, actresses, models, teenagers and victims of blackmail or sextortion,” said FBI New York Special Agent in Charge Leslie Backschies said in a video on X.
“If you or someone you know suspects that White shared your private images or videos without permission, please report it,” Backschies said.
Federal prosecutors charged White with two counts of receipt, distribution and advertisement of child pornography in January, calling his alleged illicit onilne sex market “abhorrent and depraved.”
“The Ho Zone” appeared on Telegram in September 2022 and began collecting and distributing sick images to other online users that included social-media influencers from OnlyFans, TikTok and Snapchat, as well as revenge porn plucked from other online sites.
On Oct. 6, 2022, the feds said White created “The Ho Zone Market,” which had more than 3,600 subscribers one year later — with channels such as “Tiktoker Private Leaks,” “Other Onlyfans Girls,” “Tiny T–s Onlyfans” and “Huge T–s Onlyfans,” according to the complaint.
The complaint said White would then sell the images for anywhere from $15 to $75, with more than 10,200 members in “The Ho Zone” by November 2023.
While allegedly bragged to another Telegram user that he “made over 300K in the first year.”
Federal prosecutors said he told another user he didn’t want to stop peddling smut because “it’s just easier said than done giving up $1,000’s.”
The FBI is asking victims to come forward by visiting the THZ Victim site and filling out a short form — with the agency promising that the information will remain confidential.
White, who is from Louisville, Ky., faces up to 30 years in federal prison if he is convicted of the child porn advertisement charge and up to 20 years on the receipt and distribution charge.
He is being held at the federal detention facility in Brooklyn.