Colorado student indicted in Fox Valley sextortion case

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A Colorado graduate student was indicted on federal charges of attempted child sexual exploitation and stalking after investigators say he groomed, extorted and blackmailed Fox Valley teens.

Chandan Bhangale, 29, is originally from India and studying computer science as a graduate student at Colorado State University, according to a Department of Justice news release.

On April 7, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Wisconsin indicted Bhangale on two counts of attempted child sexual exploitation and one count of cyberstalking.

According to a criminal complaint:

• The Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation Sept. 23 after being made aware a 16-year-old high school student was being harassed online.
• The 16-year-old said that in the summer of 2023 she began communicating with someone on an online drawing and guessing game app called Skribbl IO. The communication moved to Discord and the girl continued communicating with a person who identified themselves as “Lilly.” “Lilly” introduced the girl to other individuals identifying as “Ronny,” “Emma,” “Dylan,” and “Eli.” Evidence suggests all of the accounts were controlled by Bhangale.
• The 16-year-old also communicated with “Ronny” and the other individuals over Snapchat, Google Meet and Instagram. She said “Ronny” convinced her to record sexually explicit videos of herself and later sent those videos back to the girl, threatening to make them public. “Ronny” demanded additional sexually explicit photos and videos, which the girl said she sent multiple times per week.
• “Ronny” demanded the 16-year-old girl engage in self-harm. The girl said she used blades and kitchen scissors to harm herself at “Ronny’s” direction and he also demanded she cut her hair.
• The 16-year-old girl said she was under the impression the other personas worked for “Ronny.” She said she had to be in constant contact with “Ronny” and was told if she didn’t comply with his demands, he would rape, kill and hurt her and her friends and family.
• A male friend of the victim told police he was also contacted by “Ronny.” The friend said “Ronny” and the other personas would message him constantly, demanding he get the victim to log on online. The friend took a photo of the victim’s house at “Ronny’s” direction out of fear.
• A female friend of the 16-year-old began communicating with “Eli” on Instagram to help get the 16-year-old out of the situation she was in. The friend said “Eli” demanded naked videos and photographs of her, which she sent out of fear.
• Bhangale’s email address was identified as the email used by “Ronny” and “Emma” to talk with the victim on Google Meet. The victim also spoke with “Ronny” via text messages, which linked back to Bhangale’s T-Mobile account.
• Bhangale’s Google account also tied him to screenshots of the victim’s location, calls made to the victim and photographs of the victim. One screen recording found showed a sexually-explicit video taken by the victim’s friend before the person making the recording exited the video and opened a Colorado State University email account. The screen recording caught an email beginning with “Hi, Chandan.”

The three minors were all from the Fox Valley region, according to the DOJ news release.

Bhangale was booked into the Jefferson County Detention Facility in Colorado March 26, according to jail records. He remains in custody there as of April 13.

An April 9 federal court order officially committed Bhangale to the Eastern District of Wisconsin and requires the United State Marshal’s Service to transport him to that district.