Piecuch found his victim, a girl aged 12, on a gaming platform called Roblox and represented himself as a 13-year-old boy.

He encouraged her to begin to use a mobile phone to send text messages and then encouraged her to send, first, "sexually explicit" images of herself and, later, such images of a relative, a five-year-old girl.

Piecuch pleaded guilty to a sample charge of producing child pornography. The official media release from the US Attorney's Office of the Central District of California misrepresents this saying that he was sentenced for "catfishing" which is not an offence known to law. The offence is, actually, fraud and he was not charged with that.

What Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally did get right is this (although we have had to fix the grammar): "“Online games and platforms can those who prey on children to hide behind fake identities and lure children into sharing private information."

Piecuch has been in custody since 2021 and no reason has been given for the delay in bringing a guilty plea to a conclusion. Piecuch was not accused, according to the media release, of profiting from his actions but a "restitution" hearing is listed for 1 May 2025.

He was sentenced to 188 months, more than the statutory minimum of 15 years (180 months) and will remain on supervised release for the rest of his life.