DETROIT – Field agents from Detroit FBI office have arrested a 26-year-old man from Tallahassee, Florida, for allegedly stalking, tormenting, blackmailing and demanding nude pictures and photos from a young Metro Detroit girl.
According to the criminal complaint, Bruce William Powell, a motel clerk in Tallahassee, started cyberstalking the girl five years ago when she was 13. He convinced her to send him a nude selfie and then started blackmailing her and threatened exposure if she wouldn't continue furnishing him with more pictures, officials said.
The torment went on for years, including demands for daily nude selfies, officials said. Court records said he stalked her under multiple aliases. Those same records show he knew she was underage.
The FBI agents traced his Internet usage and conducted surveillance on him in Florida. They said they believe he was using the Internet at his job at the Microtel Inn and Suites in Tallahassee to run his alleged child porn operation.