The untimely death of Jack Sullivan, a Glenside resident and a 2021 graduate of Abington Senior High School, was given in-depth coverage by The Philadelphia Inquirer today.
According to the story, Sullivan, then a 20-year-old Kutztown University sophomore, received a flirtatious Instagram message from a user who called themselves Alice Dave in January 2023. The two exchanged messages, and later intimate photos on Snapchat. Later that night, “Alice’s flirty texts were replaced with threats that if Sullivan didn’t send money, she would share the photos with his family, friends, and campus community,” The Inquirer said.
“all u have to do is cooperate with me and i will not expose u, if you block me i will ruin your life,” Alice wrote, according to law enforcement records. “don’t try to act smart I know where you live.”
Sullivan sent roughly $2,800 but Alice refused to delete the photos. Less than 24 hours after the first message, he walked onto train tracks leading to the Jenkintown SEPTA station. Three minutes later a passing train struck and killed him.
Originally ruled a suicide, the coroner’s office in Montgomery County changed the cause of death to homicide following an investigation, The Inquirer said.
“Sullivan was a victim of an online sexual-extortion, or sextortion, scheme. Federal law enforcement have been prosecuting two Nigerian men, Imoleayo Samuel Aina and Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, for their roles in Alice’s account and Sullivan’s death,” The Inquirer said, noting that Sullivan’s parents filed a civil lawsuit in December 2023 against the social media companies which own Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat for failing to remove predatory accounts.
“They gave these individuals the tools, the environment, the platform, the algorithm, and the pool of victims to commit their crimes,” an attorney representing the family said.
“Sextortion is a horrific crime,” a spokesperson for Meta told The Inquirer. “We work aggressively to fight it, disrupting networks of scammers and supporting law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting them.”
The civil lawsuit also names SEPTA, and businesses that own the land leading to the tracks, as defendants.
Jim Sullivan, Jack’s father, worked with law enforcement to identify Aina and Abiodun, who were extradited in August to face charges of cyberstalking resulting in death, extortion, and wire fraud, and other offenses. At the time, Jack Sullivan’s name and the details of the case had not been released.
Abiodun has since pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering and awaits sentencing. Aina’s prosecution is ongoing. Both men are allegedly associated with a network of mostly Nigerian scammers known as “Yahoo Boys,” originally named for the use of Yahoo email accounts.
Jim Sullivan hopes the lawsuit will affect change within social media companies to make greater efforts to protect users.
“Jack was optimistic and a problem solver, empathetic, and a helper and all of these really great, positive resourceful things, and couldn’t see his way out of this trap,” he told The Inquirer. “You can get yourself out of it.”
From Jack Sullivan’s obituary:
Jack attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Pre-School, Copper Beech Elementary and both Abington Junior and Senior High Schools, graduating in 2021. A talented swimmer, Jack swam for the High School Varsity Swim Team for 3 years and also played intramural soccer.
Jack was an adventurous kid who would take long bike rides to hidden fishing spots all over the region. Anyone from Glenside knows that spotting him riding all over town on his bike was a familiar and pleasant sight. You could find him walking his beloved dog Finn and talking to anyone in the neighborhood. He will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him, and his memory forever cherished.
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