Federal authorities have waited four years to prosecute a St. Johns County man charged with tricking as many as 300 girls nationwide into sending him sexual images over the Internet and then demanding more under threat of exposing the girls on social media.
The wait is finally over.
Lucas Michael Chansler’s competency to stand trial has been at issue since shortly after his arrest in 2010. While initially deemed unable to help in his own defense because of a series of mental disorders, a federal judge ruled last week that Chansler’s competency has been restored after years of treatment in a federal medical center in North Carolina.
Authorities say the suspect was cunning and prolific, filming the victims without their knowledge via webcam, and storing tens of thousands of images on his computer.
Chansler, 30, is charged in a 15-count indictment with a variety of offenses from 2007 to early 2010 involving child pornography. That includes four counts of extortion and eight counts of production of child pornography. His trial is set for Aug. 25.
A three-month search of Chansler’s computer records revealed over 80,000 images that may be relevant to the case, court records show.
The unemployed man is accused of posing on social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace as a young male admirer of the post-pubescent girls.
He initially engaged them in sex-related web chats where they viewed images or video of who they thought was the male exposing himself or engaging in individual sexual acts, the indictment said.
The girls, who apparently didn’t know they were being filmed on a webcam, replied by exposing themselves. They were then sent clips of the videos under threat of having those images revealed to friends and on social media unless they provided more explicit imagery, including personal sex acts.
Some of the girls are seen on videos crying and pleading not to be forced into engaging in the acts.
The evidence includes screen captures of the victims’ social networking web pages and written logs of online chats between the victims, along with the pornography. Investigators found files labeling some girls “prospects” and others “done.”
Chansler’s mother, Sandy Chansler, said neither she nor her husband knew what their only son was doing on his computer. She said he is socially inept and has suffered from mental illness for years. She said he should receive more treatment and not a prison sentence.
“He’s not an evil person,” she said. “He wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
Doctors initially said Chansler was unable to help in his defense because of problems including major depression and social phobia – an anxiety-driven disorder involving an intense fear of becoming extremely anxious and possibly humiliated in social situations such as in a courtroom.
A later diagnosis also found such rights as being able to testify in his own defense would be hindered by his troubles. He was ordered into a treatment program at a federal medical center with the hope that medication and other help could resolve the issues.
Chansler’s doctors labeled him competent to stand trial in 2011, but a re-examination by a court-appointed forensic psychologist and then a psychiatrist in 2012 still found him incompetent.
A judge ruled the matter a “close call,” and ordered Chansler into more treatment
A federal magistrate’s ruling in September that Chansler was competent to stand trial was followed by the trial judge’s finding last week allowing the case to move forward.
Chansler faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years with a maximum of life in prison if convicted. He is being held without bond.
Neither prosecutors nor Chansler’s attorney, Alan Rosner, would comment. ..Source.. by Jim Schoettler
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