Alabama- From www.blog.al.com- A federal judge Thursday sentenced an Auburn man to 18 years in prison for attempting to extort nude photos of at least 50 teenage girls and young women in three states after he gained control of their e-mail, Facebook and MySpace accounts.

Upon release, Jonathan Vance, 24, will have to register as a sex offender and will serve the rest of his life on supervised probation. He will be barred from having any contact with minors and will have his computer access restricted.

U.S. District Judge David Proctor ordered Vance to pay $10,380 in restitution. The amount represents the cost of victims’ counseling.

Vance, a 2007 Auburn University graduate and a member of his church choir, pleaded guilty in January to several charges including enticing or coercing someone into illegal sexual activity and violating the interstate communications law by extorting something of value and threatening to ruin someone’s reputation.

Vance cooperated with FBI agents and identified victims they did not know about. He also showed agents how he hacked his victims’ accounts. The FBI shared that information with the social networking sites and e-mail services. The FBI has also conducted Internet-safety training based on what they learned from Vance, according to court records.

“I only know of two similar cases, but they are not to this level,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Fortune said in court.

Vance, court records show, contacted more than 50 girls and young women in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Missouri from 2006 to 2008. Vance apologized in court Thursday, as his grandparents — who had adopted him as a child — watched.

“I want to express my deepest apologies for my actions,” said Vance, who had no criminal record. “I spend a lot of nights in the county jail in tears thinking about what the victims are going through.”

Before the hearing began, Vance’s grandmother told him that family and friends were praying for him.

Court records show Vance gained control of his victims’ Yahoo, Hotmail, Facebook and MySpace accounts using several means. In interviews with the FBI, Vance said he would contact his victims through instant messaging and pretend to be a friend or a relative. He convinced some victims to give him their login and password information, saying he was locked out of his own Facebook, MySpace or e-mail account.

He also pretended to be a secret admirer and got his victims to answer intimate questions about their bodies and sexual experiences by promising to reveal his identity after they provided the answers. He then threatened to publicize the information if the victim didn’t provide password information.

In more complicated instances, Vance hacked into his victims’ e-mail accounts using information from public Facebook pages, which included information such as birth dates, the names of the victims’ schools and their hometowns. Password protection on the e-mail accounts would use standard questions such as ZIP code, date of birth or school mascot. Once Vance had control of an e-mail account, he would go to Facebook, pretend he forgot the password and have Facebook send a link to the victims’ compromised e-mail account. Vance changed the passwords, locking the victims out of their accounts.

Vance threatened to expose embarrassing details he learned if he didn’t get nude photos. He also promised some victims he would relinquish control of the accounts in exchange for nude photos. Most did not meet his demands, but at least two minors and one adult did.

Vance told the FBI that the intimidation and extortion made him feel empowered. The FBI searched Vance’s grandparents’ house in December 2007, seizing his computer. He was not arrested, but advised that his conduct was criminal and he was warned not to use the Internet to harass anyone.

Despite the ongoing FBI investigation, Vance bought a laptop computer in March 2008 and continued his criminal activity while living in Georgia. He was indicted in July.

“He couldn’t control his behavior,” defense lawyer Tommy Spina said. “This was a horrible offense. We’re very sympathetic to the families affected.”

Vance helped identify more victims after his initial arrest last summer. Authorities also advised social media websites how Vance did it. He pleaded guilty to 34- extortion and sex-related counts in January. In addition to prison time, he will be registered as a sex offender and must pay restitution totaling ten-thousand dollars to his victims. After prison, he will also be limited on computer use.