A South Carolina prison inmate whose catfishing and extortion led a father of two to kill himself should have his sentence reduced, the 6th Circuit Court ruled.
Glenn Boyd was serving time in a South Carolina prison for assault and manslaughter when he got a contraband cell phone.
He created a profile on the Plenty of Fish dating website and posed as a teenage girl.
Boyd matched with BG, a 22-year-old father of two. One day later, they started exchanging sexual messages and photos.
On the following day, Boyd told BG that the girl (“Jad”) was only 15 and living with her grandparents.
BG said he could not risk losing his children. Jad convinced him that he wouldn’t get in trouble, so they continued sharing sexual photos, messages, and videos.
Boyd then posed as Jad’s grandparents and threatened to call the police and BG’s family members. When Boyd asked for money via CashApp, BG recognized an extortion attempt and said he was “calling the law now for scammers.”
Boyd contacted the mother of BG’s children on Facebook, and she reported the extortion attempt to police.
BG killed himself with a gunshot to the head and neck. Police searched his phone and traced the messages to Boyd.
He was convicted of extortion, stalking, and wire fraud and sentenced to 22 years and eight months in prison.
Boyd appealed his sentence, and the 6th Circuit agreed that it should be reduced in an opinion written by Circuit Judge Eric Clay.
He reversed the sentencing enhancements that applied “if a firearm was discharged” and “if any victim sustained … permanent or life-threatening bodily injury.”
Clay ruled that “there was no indication that Defendant willfully caused B.G. to commit suicide.
“Instead, B.G.’s suicide was contrary to Defendant’s wishes, as he could no longer solicit money from B.G.,” he added. “Defendant thus did not willfully cause B.G. to discharge a firearm or to inflict harm on himself, meaning that the enhancements do not apply.”
