A prolific and deviant catfish abuser who forced a terrified 12-year-old girl to take her life and left hundreds of people degraded and humiliated was today sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years.
Alexander McCartney, a 26-year-old computer science student, made Cimarron Thomas use his father’s gun to shoot himself in the head rather than submit to his perverted demands.
Her father, Ben, a US Army veteran, took his own life after being consumed by guilt for leaving his gun where his “angelic” daughter could access it.
McCartney, of Newry, South Armagh, had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Cimarron at his home in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, at a hearing earlier this year.
He also admitted a further 184 offenses of blackmail and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
A new photograph of Cimarron Thomas, 12, of Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, released today following the sentencing of Alexander McCartney, which led her to take her own life.
A mugshot of Alexander McCartney who admitted manslaughter in connection with Cimarron’s death.
In the horrific messages between Alexander McCartney and one of his child victims, his perverted tactics are laid bare as he can be seen joking and flirting before suddenly turning nasty.
Cimarron Thomas (left) with his US Army veteran father, Ben Thomas, who later took his own life after being consumed by guilt for leaving his gun where his daughter could access it.
The former Ulster University student had posed as a teenager when she came into contact with hundreds of other young women, many of them gay or unsure of their sexuality.
Using Snapchat and other social media, he convinced them to send him topless photos, before revealing they had been tricked.
Catfishing involves using a false online identity to befriend and exploit victims.
She first contacted Cimarron Thomas in May 2018. After receiving intimate photos, he attempted to blackmail her into complying with his deviant demands.
Despite tearfully pleading with him to stop it, McCartney threatened to send the photos to his father and friends.
When she rejected his demands and said she would shoot herself, he callously started a countdown and told her “goodbye and good luck.”
Alexander McCartney (pictured), 26, operated from the bedroom of his family home in rural Northern Ireland and persuaded young girls to send naked photographs of themselves.
Cimarrón and Ben Thomas with their mother Stephanie. The double tragedy destroyed the family
Cimarron Thomas (pictured) was the subject of sickening online blackmail by McCartney and used his father’s gun to take his own life.
The young woman was found dying by her nine-year-old sister.
The police who carried out the investigation into McCartney today made public the emergency call made by a neighbor who rushed to help the young woman.
Much of the call is muffled, but the 911 operator can be heard telling the neighbor to apply pressure to the head wound.
Cimarron’s father Ben, 40, took his own life 18 months after her death.
At that time the family from a rural town had no idea why Cimarrón had committed suicide.
It was not until 2021, when police found a transcript of the conversation between Cimarron and McCartney that they were able to tell them the reason for his death.
He had kept the online chat as a “trophy” on his computer.
Cimarron (pictured with his father Ben) was told that if he did not comply with McCartney’s requests, his photos would be sent to his father.
Cimarrón’s mother, Stephanie (pictured left), is still struggling to deal with the loss of her husband and daughter six years after the double tragedy; here he appears with Cimarrón.
At first, the Thomas family had no idea why their daughter (pictured) had taken her life and were unaware of the depravity she had been subjected to.
Relatives told MailOnline that evil McCartney “might as well pull the trigger” and were outraged he was not charged with murder.
They had hoped he would be extradited to the United States, but State Department officials say that won’t happen.
Members of the Thomas family said the double tragedy had torn their family apart: Cimarrón’s mother, Stephanie, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and six years later couldn’t bring herself to talk about her daughter’s death.
Prosecutor David McDowell spent 90 minutes describing how McCartney had “degraded and humiliated” his victims and showed no mercy when they begged him to stop.
McCartney refused to listen to the harrowing details of his campaign of abuse, sitting in the dock with his head bowed and his hands over his ears.
Most of his victims were aged between 10 and 16 and lived in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
McCartney used his technical knowledge as a computer science student to carry out his crimes, prosecutors said
Cimarron Thomas, 12, (pictured) used her father’s gun to take her own life after being blackmailed online by McCartney.
A tribute to Cimarron Thomas, 12 years old (pictured in the center of the painting) who took his own life.
Pretending to be a girl, McCartney found and befriended girls who were said to be struggling with sexuality.
He cajoled them into obtaining a compromising photograph and then used it to blackmail and threaten the teenagers into committing heinous acts.
Each victim was terrified that their intimate photos would be exposed to family and friends.
McCartney told one girl he would have people come to her house to rape her if she didn’t comply.
When another said his mother was dying of cancer, he said, “I don’t care” and continued his relentless abuse.
Prosecutors said he carried out the abuse for his own sexual gratification.
It only came to an end after a girl in Scotland complained she was a victim of catfishing and the UK’s largest catfishing investigation was launched.
In March 2019, Police Scotland contacted their counterparts in Northern Ireland about a 13-year-old girl who had been groomed by an adult using the alias of someone her age.
McCartney was located and arrested. Pollice confiscated 64 devices and found tens of thousands of images of underage girls performing sexual acts while being blackmailed.
His lawyers said McCartney had shown genuine remorse and has been remanded in custody for five years since his arrest in 2019.