PITTSBURGH — A California man is facing over 50 charges for extorting and threatening a University of Pittsburgh student, police say.
According to court documents, Michael Anthony Vaca, 19, of Hollister, California, harassed a young woman for months.
A criminal complaint said that Vaca and the victim first met in July 2025. The victim was still a minor at the time. Police said they were connected via mutual friends and lived about an hour away from each other in California.
When the victim left to attend college in Pittsburgh, police said Vaca began sending her derogatory messages and continually harassed her.
The student contacted the University of Pittsburgh Police Department for help in January. This prompted an investigation involving the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and Allegheny County Police Department.
Investigators said Vaca recorded sexual material sent by the victim when the two were still together in California without her consent or knowledge. Police said he used that material to threaten and extort the victim once she came to Pittsburgh.
Police listed instances where Vaca threatened to contact or expose the victim’s private material to her parents, grandmother and the University of Pittsburgh, among others.
The threats were also of violence. While Vaca remained in California near the victim’s family, police said he threatened to shoot the victim’s cat on several occasions. Police also noted that he threatened her grandmother and once said he would “pay ur house a visit.”
Court documents show Vaca threatened to call ICE on her family, who had immigrated from another country, saying he would “make sure something happens to ur family.”
Police noted three instances where Vaca specifically threatened to ruin or destroy the victim’s life.
At one point, police noted that Vaca said, “I think this is fun.”
A criminal complaint said Vaca extorted the victim for more sexual material and, in one instance, for money.
When the victim was home for a holiday break, police say Vaca extorted her for sexual acts and recorded that encounter without her knowledge after she specifically told him not to.
The victim told police the situation grew to the point where Vaca was beginning to demand full control of her life, including deciding who she was following on social media, who she was allowed to talk to and who she was allowed to be with at any given point.
Police said they have found several accounts connected with Vaca that were used specifically for the purposes of harassing the victim.
Of the charges filed against Vaca on Wednesday, 37 are felonies and 18 are misdemeanors.
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