PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Parents have a list of questions after a local high school student was arrested and accused of running a major online extortion scheme.
“How do we protect our children now? It’s shocking,” Alli Pezzella told Channel 11.
Pezzella has 2 children in the Peters Township School District.
She’s been concerned since Channel 11 broke the news on Friday that Peters Township High School’s senior class president, Zachariah Meyers, was charged with running a “catfishing” and “sextortion” operation.
Police tell us there are nearly two dozen underage victims.
According to police, Meyers posed as a woman and targeted teenage victims on social media, asked for nude photos of them, then threatened to share those photos if they didn’t do as he said. Investigators say he asked one victim to go into the wrestling locker room 6 different times to secretly take videos of athletes undressing.
That day, the district sent out a short statement saying “there is no immediate safety risk to our schools.”
“I don’t think they understand that this is something we have not experienced before. It’s definitely a lot more hush-hush than parents would like,” she added.
Then, another statement from school leaders — letting parents know they’d have counselors and social workers at the high school today, and they’re cooperating with police.
“It’s so vague. What is actually happening, and are our kids involved? I have a child in middle school. What ages are they? Who do we need to talk with?” she asked.
Police say one victim was coerced into having sex with unknown adult men twice, recording it, and sending the video to Meyers.
Today, Meyers’ defense attorney, Lisle Weaver, told Channel 11 he’s in the process of reviewing the allegations.
“The affidavit of probable cause is lengthy, and we are getting ready for the preliminary hearing that is currently scheduled for Friday. We are preparing to have a hearing,” Weaver said.
Channel 11 will be at that hearing, where the defense team could ask for bail.
On Friday, we told you a judge denied bail for Meyers just after his arrest, calling him a danger to society.
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