Note: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. A Montgomery County man has pleaded guilty to using the internet to target at least 10 young victims in order to create child pornography that, officials claim, often showed victims causing pain to themselves. According to law enforcement officials, Michael Blazo, 22, of Schwenksville, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday to charges of manufacturing and attempting to manufacture child pornography. The charges, officials said, stemmed from Blazo’s 2024 indictment that arose after he used the internet to entice 10 children to engage in sexually explicit conduct — which often included demands for victims to harm themselves — for the purpose on producing visual depictions of the acts. Blazo’s crimes came to light back in 2021, officials said, after a 12-year-old girl in Ohio told officials there that she had created child pornography for a stranger she met on the internet. In April of 2022, Blazo’s home in Schwenksville, which he shared with his parents, was raided after federal officials identified him as the person who had received child pornography from that victim, officials said. An investigation found that Blazo frequently posed as a teen boy or girl on the internet and worked to gain victims’ trust. He directed victims to call him “master,” “mommy” or “daddy,” investigators said, and told victims that he was sexually gratified by watching them cause pain to themselves. Officials said that he told investigators he talked to children and solicited illegal materials multiple times a day. A review of seized devices, officials said, found he corresponded with dozens of minors online and investigators were able to identify 10 victims, ranging in age from 11 to 16 years old, who created images and videos at Blazo’s request. Over the course of three years, police said, Blazo escalated his abuse of his victims, demanding that they “produce sexual images that involved obvious pain and showed their faces.” If victims resisted, Blazo extorted images by threatening to share the images that the victims had already sent him with others online. One child, police said, pleaded Blazo, saying she would kill herself if he shared her images online. However, Blazo only responded with continued threats, officials said. In one case, police said, Blazo traveled to a victim after abusing them online and engaged in sexual intercourse with them. At his sentencing, scheduled for Dec. 7, 2026, officials said, Blazo faces a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison. He will also be required to provide restitution to his victims as part of a plea deal, officials said. ...read more read less