By CHAT News Today

Man arrested on child luring, extortion charges

Aug 21, 2017 | 2:04 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A 20-year-old man previously arrested on child pornography and extortion charges in a Medicine Hat case last year is facing additional charges following a second investigation.

Skylar Pantherbone, 20, was arrested last Thursday by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s Internet Child Exploitation unit after allegations he lured and extorted an underage victim. He was arrested at a home on the Blood Tribe First Nation, where a number of drugs and weapons were seized.

Pantherbone is accused of hacking into a Lethbridge teen’s social media account, and accessing private photos, with plans to sextort her. The victim disclosed the offences to a Lethbridge school resource office r in March, which prompted the investigation.

The accused and victim were not known to each other.

The search of the suspect’s home also turned up a quantity of illicit pills, included suspected fentanyl and oxycodone, along with weapons and proceeds of crime.

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Pantherbone is facing charges of child luring, extortion, accessing child pornography, possessing child pornography, distributing child pornography, possession of proceeds of crime, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public, drug trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, obstructing a police officer, and three counts of breach of recognizance.

The breach of recognizance charges stem from a similar incident in September 2016. Pantherbone was arrested and charged by ICE after allegedly trying to blackmail three girls in Medicine Hat with sexually explicit images they had previously posted online.