Substitute teacher charged for alleged sextortion of minors

CARVER, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 25-year-old substitute teacher has been federally charged for an alleged "sextortion" case involving minors and authorities believe there could be more victims.

Mitchell James Ottinger of Carver, Minnesota was arrested on Tuesday. He is charged with two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography and two counts of making extortionate threats. 

According to court documents, Ottinger pretended to be a young woman on the internet in order to get the images and videos of minors and an adult. Some of his aliases included "Taylor Malek" and "Rachel Meyer."

If the person later blocked his account, Ottinger would contact them in a different way and threaten to post the person's explicit photos online unless they sent more explicit photos, an act also known as "sextortion."

Authorities began investigating after a victim contacted the FBI's National Threat Operations Center. Officials were able to trace the accounts back to Ottinger. According to court documents, Ottinger works at an elementary school as a substitute teacher and paraprofessional. The school and school district were not named.

Investigators believe there could be more victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI Minneapolis Division at (763) 569-8000.