Show-Me State Times

ST. LOUIS – A man from the Turks and Caicos has been arrested after being indicted and accused of the sextortion of a Missouri teen.

Alexander Gardiner, 23, of Providenciales, was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on May 22 on one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.

Gardiner was arrested at Miami International Airport on August 8. He appeared in court in St. Louis Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Although many perpetrators who seek to exploit and blackmail minors do so from overseas, we will not let borders keep us from stopping sextortion and seeking justice,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming.

“A large number of sextortion investigations have identified the perpetrators as living outside of the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Ashley T. Johnson of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Investigating sextortion is one of the top priorities in the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children program. In addition, the FBI provides support and resources to help victims and their families during their time of need.”

The indictment accuses Gardiner of attempting to coerce a minor into engaging in sexually explicit conduct between Sept. 24, 2018, and June 30, 2023.

An August 14 detention order says Gardiner is accused of making contact with a minor in Missouri via social media and enticing the minor to send him sexually explicit images. Gardiner then demanded money from the minor by threatening to send those images to others, and did post an explicit video on social media, the order says. A motion seeking Gardiner’s detention alleges that images of other teenage victims were discovered in Gardiner’s iCloud account. Gardiner used screen names noahmonn on Snapchat, algardiner33 and algardiner22 on Google, and @jewelsbaits on X, court records show.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The enticement charge is punishable by at least 10 years in prison, with a maximum term of life.

Others who believe they may have been targets of a sextortion attempt should contact local law enforcement or the FBI by calling Call 1-800-CALL-FBI, contacting your local FBI office or reporting it online at tips.fbi.gov or cybertipline.org.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has detailed information on resources for sextortion victims including videos and discussion guides to help explain the problem to children and adults. They also have a step-by-step guide on how to report pictures or videos of children to social media companies so that they will seek out and remove these images.

The FBI investigated this case with assistance from the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting this case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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