A Los Angeles man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for using social media to meet and entice children into producing sexually explicit content.
From 2019 to August 2021, Mark David Wallin, 44, of Del Rey, used the internet and apps like Snapchat to meet pre-teen children in the U.S. and abroad, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He would develop romantic relationships with them and eventually persuade them to engage in sexually explicit conduct through video chat, which he screen-captured and saved, prosecutors said.
After his victims sent the explicit content, Wallin would sometimes demand additional explicit images and videos from them.
If the children did not cooperate, he would threaten to publish or expose the pictures and videos they had previously sent him.
In one instance, Wallin convinced a child who was around 9-10 years old to send sexually explicit images and videos of himself through Snapchat, prosecutors said.
In his plea agreement, Wallin admitted to coercing at least four additional victims – ranging in age from 12 to 16 years old – to produce child pornography. He also admitted to possessing around 200 files containing child sexual abuse material.
Wallin has been in federal custody since July 2022. In September 2024, he pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
On May 16, he was sentenced to 480 months (40 years) in federal prison. The judge who presided over the hearing said Wallin committed “cruel and relentless” crimes against children and that his conduct was “highly sexualized sadomasochistic conduct that no child should know of, let alone be exposed to.”
A restitution hearing is scheduled for August 13. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
