Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Ingham County Sheriff's Office reports a 27-year-old man from Buffalo, New York was sentenced Wednesday to serve 12 to 20 years in prison for extorting children on social media platforms to obtain sexually explicit images and videos, including from a 12-year-old in Ingham County.

Dominic Candelaria was found guilty of Child Sexually Abusive Activity and Using a Computer to Commit a Crime.

He was arrested and extradited from New York after a detective with the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office identified him as a suspect in an online child exploitation investigation.

According to the sheriff's office, further investigation revealed that Candelaria was also under investigation by Interpol and multiple law enforcement agencies across the United States, stemming from several cyber tip reports submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The Ingham County Sheriff’s Office urges parents and guardians to speak with their children about the safe use of social media and the internet.

Numerous resources are available to help families stay informed and protected online. The Michigan State Police offer a comprehensive list of internet safety tools and educational materials at the link below.

If you have information related to possible child sexual exploitation, please report it to the CyberTipline at the link below.