Feds link man charged in Indiana threats to Maine extortions

INDIANAPOLIS – Federal authorities say they’ve linked a California man charged with making online threats to blow up two suburban Indianapolis high schools with the sexual extortion of girls in Maine.

Prosecutors say 26-year-old Buster Hernandez of Bakersfield, California, whose online alias wsa “Brian Kil,” appeared Wednesday for a court hearing in Indianapolis. He was ordered held until a Sept. 8 bond hearing.

Authorities say a Plainfield, Indiana, girl was threatened via Facebook in December 2015 after refusing to send sexually explicit photos of herself over the internet. The threats prompted temporary closures of the Plainfield and Danville high schools and a shopping centre.

Prosecutors say Hernandez was linked to the “Purge of Maine,” a Facebook page showing sexually explicit photos of girls in 2015.

It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney.