Lawmakers look to crack down on organized crime, online sexual extortion

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers advanced a major bill Wednesday that aims to crack down on organized crime by enhancing criminal penalties for those who commit crimes in concert with others and for those who recruit minors into street gangs. It would also make it easier for police to go after those accused of sexually extorting people online.

Sponsor Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, said he has worked closely with various criminal gang enforcement units across the state, finding that gang members are displaying an "increasing violent nature." His bill, HB38, makes myriad changes to code around organized crime, burglary and exploitation — including targeting a relatively new form of online sexual exploitation often targeted toward young boys.

"This is kind of hard to talk about, so I'll just tell you. ... We're going after those who are intentionally targeting our young men from these criminal organizations from outside the country, primarily, to extort them of money, to compromise them and then to encourage them to commit suicide to remove the evidence," Wilcox told House colleagues Wednesday. "We have several cases that I hate that I have to be the one to tell you about, but that's happening."

It's a problem across the nation, according to the Washington Post, which in 2023 reported on what experts call financial sextortion in which malicious actors pose as teenage girls and strike up flirtatious conversations with boys on social media. They eventually invite the boy to share explicit photos online, after which they threaten to share them with their friends and families unless a ransom is paid.

Wilcox didn't get into the specifics of the cases he has seen in Utah, but his bill would change the definition of aggravated sexual extortion to include instances when the "victim suffered bodily injury or severe psychological injury during, or as a result of, the offense." The current language requires the injury to have been caused by the actor, and the change could make it so blackmailers could be held accountable for harm inflicted by someone being sexually extorted.

Wilcox has previously expressed concern about young Utahns being recruited into organized gangs, and this bill adds penalties for trying to recruit minors to join street gangs — making it a class A misdemeanor if the actor is another minor and a third-degree felony if the actor is an adult.

The bill further enhances the penalties if one solicits or intimidates a minor into joining a gang.

HB38 advanced without opposition Wednesday and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

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