A 27-year-old man who sexually extorted and harassed 15 victims over several years, including one young woman who later died by suicide, was sentenced in Bucks County Court Thursday Feb. 9 to serve 20 to 51 years in state prison.
At his sentencing, victims and their families described the immeasurable emotional damage caused by Ian Pisarchuk of Bensalem, who used anonymous Snapchat accounts to threaten and torment dozens of women and girls, some as young as 12, into sending him sexually explicit photos and videos.
Standing with her husband at her side, the mother of Lindsey Piccone tearfully described their daughter, who was born premature, as a “miracle baby” who meant everything to them. “Lindsey was our world,” she said.
Their daughter was one of Pisarchuk’s first victims in September 2016. A day after Pisarchuk repeatedly demanded Piccone send him sexually explicit photos, she left her Bensalem home, leaving behind a note with the message, “before someone else ruins my life, I’m ruining mine.”
She was found dead two months later at Tyler State Park, her death ruled a suicide. While Pisarchuk was never charged directly with Piccone’s death, he did face charges for his repeated sexual extortion of her.
“Our world and lives were changed forever,” the mother cried, questioning what Pisarchuk did to their daughter that left her feeling so helpless she felt her only option was to take her own life. “What did you do to her mind?”
Julie Dugery, coordinator of volunteers and community outreach at NOVA (Network of Victim Assistance), which has been working to educate students and members of the community about the crime of sextortion, said there is “a lot of sleight of hand that these offenders use.”
She and Penny Ettinger, executive director of NOVA, said they could not speak to the specifics of Pisarchuk’s cases, but they spoke about the crime of sextortion.
“There’s a whole process of grooming,” and gaining their trust, which offenders use, which can include friending someone online, paying them lots of attention, and commenting on how they look before asking them to send an explicit photograph, Ettinger said. It might be a young person who feels they’re not popular and suddenly someone is paying attention to them, she said.
“It becomes a trusted relationship,” Ettinger said. “It’s coercion; you’re luring them in.”
To stop the perpetrator, Ettinger advises young people who are being victimized to go to a trusted adult, NOVA, or law enforcement for help. The same goes for an adult who is being victimized.
“It doesn’t end until the police or the FBI get involved,” Ettinger said.
Deputy District Attorney Brittney Kern, who prosecuted Pisarchuk, said even after Piccone’s death, Pisarchuk continued to harass and threaten girls and young women into sending him disturbingly explicit videos and photos, and once he got them, he threatened to expose them, if they didn’t send more.
Pisarchuk threatened to post them to social media, and send them to relatives, friends, classmates, and potential employers. He even used Piccone’s suicide as a way to intimidate his victims, showing them what he was capable of if they didn’t comply to his demands, Kern said.
“They lived in fear, not knowing what this defendant was going to do,” Kern said.
President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. said Pisarchuk’s crimes shocked the conscience of everyone who has heard about the case and a lengthy period of incarceration and supervision is necessary to protect the community.
In sentencing Pisarchuk to serve 20 to 51 years in a state correctional institution, Bateman said, “each victim deserves some sort of justice.”
“You have done something to them that they may never recover from,” Bateman said. “Only to satisfy your perverted state of mind.”
Last summer, the state passed Lindsey’s Law, a sentencing enhancement for people whose sexual extortion leads to serious bodily injury or death of the victim.
The investigation found that Pisarchuk would seek to build rapport with the victims before threatening to expose or do harm to them or others if they did not comply with his demands for sexually explicit images and videos. He used several different Snapchat usernames during the four years he tormented young women and girls on the social media site.
Bensalem Police Detective Aaron Woelkers testified Thursday that Pisarchuk would send up to 20 Snapchat messages a minute to girls and young women, casting a wide net of potential victims.
“Behind a computer screen, Pisarchuk felt he had power and control, something he lacked in everyday life,” the detective testified.
Before handing down his sentence, Bateman told Pisarchuk that because of the first juvenile victim to come forward and superb police work by Bensalem Detectives, “they took that control away from you.”
For help from Nova, text 267-323-4545. Nova’s chat line can be accessed at novabucks.org.
Read Nova’s guest opinion on Page A7.
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