(File Photo of a Police Siren Light)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Pittsburgh, PA) A man from California is facing over 50 charges after officials said he threatened and tried to extort a University of Pittsburgh student. According to a criminal complaint, 19-year-old Michael Vaca harassed a young woman whom he had met through a mutual friend via text message. Vaca and the woman had met in July of 2025. Vaca resided in Hollister, California, while the woman lived in San Jose. The complaint said Vaca and the woman started casually dating, but were not in a formal relationship. Documents state “intimate images and videos” were exchanged between both individuals prior to the woman beginning school at the University of Pittsburgh last August. The complaint also noted that Vaca soon began to accuse the girl of cheating and threatened to share the photos sent to him online if she did not stop talking to other men. Police confirm that the charges against Vaca include stalking and sexual extortion. Vaca allegedly also threatened to kill her cat and vandalize her parents’ home. Messages that were shared with police by the woman in January of this year showed multiple texts from Vaca saying he would share the photos with her parents, professor and school. After the messages were shared with the University of Pittsburgh Police Department, an investigation started involving the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and Allegheny County police. In addition to the threats, the complaint also expressed that Vaca attempted to extort the girl for $40 by threatening to share her explicit photos and videos if she did not pay him money. Vaca later began sending screenshots to the woman, showing videos and photos shared with her family and friends. Vaca also threatened to call ICE on her and her family because court documents confirm that the woman and her family had immigrated from another country. 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 state that they have found several accounts connected with Vaca that were used specifically for the purposes of harassing her. According to police, Vaca is facing over 50 charges, including sexual extortion, stalking, terrorist threats, and identity theft.