United States of America v. Dylan Rex

Tacoma, Washington, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with seven counts of Wire Fraud; seven counts of Computer Fraud; one count of Possession of Child Pornography; and one count of Attempted Enticement of a Minor.

Between July 2020 and March 2023, Dylan Rex, age 32, of La Center, Washington, defrauded over 170 victims of their private and intimate photos and videos stored in their Snapchat accounts. He would use false phone numbers and false email addresses that made it appear he was a member of the Snapchat tech support team. He would trigger a password reset message to the victim and then ask the victim to provide the six-digit code to assist them in getting back into their account. Once the victim gave up the code Rex locked them out of their account and stole the images he wanted. Many of the images and videos he stole he circulated on the internet, leading to harassment and extortion of the victims.

On March 29, 2023, law enforcement searched Rex’s residence and seized several digital devices. In all agents found more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material on eight different devices.

“What Dylan Rex did was calculated, cruel, and downright depraved. He impersonated a member of Snapchat’s customer support, targeted over 170 victims’ accounts across the country, and stole their photos which were later weaponized against them. To make matters worse, he possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material and even went as far as enticing a young mother into sexually abusing her own child, and documenting that abuse for his own sick gratification,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. “With today’s sentence, he’s been held accountable for his crimes, and will be locked away, where he can’t victimize anyone else.”

In asking for the ten-year sentence and 15 years of supervised release prosecutors wrote to the court, “Rex’s sole purpose of hacking into the victims’ Snapchat accounts was to hunt for intimate and sexually suggestive photographs and/or videos of young women that he would in turn share or trade on the internet. Although Rex may not have participated directly in the harassment and intimidation of these victims using their stolen imagery, he undoubtedly contributed to it. His actions created a living nightmare for many of these victims.”

The search of Rex’s devices led to one state court conviction as well. On October 16, 2025, Rex was sentenced to 90 days in custody after pleading guilty to two counts of Voyeurism in Clark County Superior Court. In that case, Rex photographed and filmed victims, including minors, without their knowledge or consent. Rex used a recording device that he placed in a bathroom to capture these images.

“This defendant is the dangerous stranger lurking on the Internet that every parent fears,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “And he made the deception even worse by posing as tech support to get access to private images. I commend the cyber investigators at the FBI for bringing him to justice.”

The case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elyne M. Vaught.

The Dendant was sentenced to 120 months imprisonment with placement at FCI Englewood recommended; 15 years supervised release with mandatory, standard and special conditions; $1600 special assessment; restitution TBD at a hearing set for 4/15/2026 (presence waived).