The man who the police allege is the mastermind behind the pornographic Jamaicangirls- exposed website is now in custody and is set to appear before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court next Wednesday.

Charged with multiple offences under the cybercrimes and larceny acts yesterday is 27-year-old Ronald Oates, who was arrested by detectives on Monday.

Oates was arrested at his home where the police say that several computers, mobile phones, wireless modems, jump drives and telephone SIM cards were seized.

In a press conference yesterday morning, officials of the Organised Crime Investigation Division (OCID) revealed that Oates had been under surveillance for some time.

Deputy Superintendent Dwight Daley, who is the head of operations at OCID, said already 25 victims of the website have come forward.

However, Daley said that their investigation had revealed that hundreds of persons have been targeted by the scheme.

It was revealed that majority of the victims were in Kingston and St Catherine, but there were victims as far as Manchester.

Investigators outlined their allegations that the accused used an elaborate scheme to gain access to the e-mail accounts of his victims, then informed them that nude photos were taken from the accounts. It is further alleged that he demanded between $10,000 and $20,000 from individuals to prevent the publishing of the photo and videos on the Internet.

"He would also invite persons who want to expose others to upload pornographic pictures and videos of these persons to the blogs he created," the acting OCID head alleged.

THE STAR had previously reported that several photos of persons, including a popular Jamaican entertainer, had appeared on the website and that there were demands of money to remove the sexually explicit contents from the website.