{"id":125578,"date":"2026-02-27T23:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125578\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T23:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:53:07","slug":"attorney-seeks-justice-for-pennsylvania-student-victimized-in-alleged-sextortion-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125578\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney seeks justice for Pennsylvania student victimized in alleged \u2018sextortion\u2019 scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 Since January, there have been signs posted throughout Peters Township High School\u2019s bathrooms and locker rooms that say cell phones are not allowed to be taken out in those specific areas. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">That policy went into place during the middle of an investigation surrounding Peters Township senior class president Zachariah Meyers, who is accused of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/peters-township-high-school-senior-charged-with-running-criminal-network-abuse-exploit-22-minors\/4NANLSUJIRD7RAIUPIV4JXBPCA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/peters-township-high-school-senior-charged-with-running-criminal-network-abuse-exploit-22-minors\/4NANLSUJIRD7RAIUPIV4JXBPCA\/\">running a sex trafficking and \u201csextortion\u201d operation<\/a> that targeted Peters students. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PREVIOUS COVERAGE &gt;&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/parents-left-with-list-questions-after-student-is-arrested-accused-extorting-classmates\/HHZ4R2ZXDBBABIH2POK6WSWIIQ\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/parents-left-with-list-questions-after-student-is-arrested-accused-extorting-classmates\/HHZ4R2ZXDBBABIH2POK6WSWIIQ\/\">Parents left with list of questions after student is arrested, accused of extorting classmates<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cWhy weren\u2019t those up before? So we are still really trying to dig through the facts of the case right now,\u201d civil attorney Amy Mathieu told Channel 11. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Mathieu was at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/peters-township-student-charged-sextortion-scheme-appear-court-friday\/XGYOA6Q7KFHJBAWDH4JRU6JR3E\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/peters-township-student-charged-sextortion-scheme-appear-court-friday\/XGYOA6Q7KFHJBAWDH4JRU6JR3E\/\">Meyers\u2019 hearing Friday<\/a> because she represents one of the victims who was unknowingly recorded in the wrestling locker room \u2014 after police say Meyers blackmailed a student who sent him a nude photo, and threatened to release it if that student didn\u2019t record the team undressing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cHe was recorded without his knowledge, so he didn\u2019t know he was victimized until the police called him and told him,\u201d Mathieu said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PREVIOUS COVERAGE &gt;&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/peters-township-students-shocked-arrest-senior-accused-extorting-least-21-minors\/YG7N5HNIXNALTC67YHVSSFF4P4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/peters-township-students-shocked-arrest-senior-accused-extorting-least-21-minors\/YG7N5HNIXNALTC67YHVSSFF4P4\/\">Peters Township students shocked by arrest of senior accused of extorting at least 21 minors<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Mathieu tells Channel 11 it\u2019s unclear where those videos ended up, and who may have accessed them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cWith a crime like this, you\u2019re not victimized once. You\u2019re victimized every time a new person downloads that image online,\u201d Mathieu said. \u201cYou\u2019re not even aware of that. So it has lifelong damages to someone who is a victim of child sex abuse material.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PREVIOUS COVERAGE &gt;&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/internet-safety-expert-speaking-out-after-arrest-student-accused-running-sextortion-network\/B2EW2NF6RFEPVG3X2G4QYQJOAU\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/internet-safety-expert-speaking-out-after-arrest-student-accused-running-sextortion-network\/B2EW2NF6RFEPVG3X2G4QYQJOAU\/\">Internet safety expert speaking out after arrest of student accused of running \u2018sextortion network\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">In addition to Meyers\u2019 charges, Mathieu is also looking into whether the Peters Township School District shares any fault in the case, specifically for the locker room recordings. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cWe are investigating to see what the claims may be in the school for the recording happening at the school, with or without their knowledge, with or without a coach present in the locker room. Was he using school-issued devices to contact these other students? We just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Mathieu is also exploring the possibility of filing another civil case against the social media sites Meyers is accused of using to send nude photos of kids. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 Since January, there have been signs posted throughout Peters Township High School\u2019s bathrooms and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[58743,869,4931,32118,4932,58745,58744,139,859,28,30,29,46439,58740,58741,58746,74,58739,420,860,58742],"class_list":{"0":"post-125578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-amy_matthew","9":"tag-channel_11","10":"tag-gabriela","11":"tag-gabriela_deluca","12":"tag-lisa","13":"tag-matthew","14":"tag-myers","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-ott_news","17":"tag-pennsylvania","18":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","19":"tag-pennsylvania-news","20":"tag-peter","21":"tag-peters_township","22":"tag-peters_township_high_school","23":"tag-peters_township_school_district","24":"tag-pittsburgh-news","25":"tag-team_11","26":"tag-video","27":"tag-wpxi-news","28":"tag-zachariah_myers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}