SAF regular jailed 4 months for blackmailing woman, selling her sex videos online

• Jared Poh Jun Kiat sold 35 sex videos of the victim 
• He had threatened to spread them if she did not have sex with him again
• She quit her job after the videos appeared on a pornographic website

SINGAPORE — After meeting a woman on the online dating application Tinder, Jared Poh Jun Kiat filmed them having sex with her consent. 

She also sent him videos of her having sex with other men.

After they lost contact, he threatened to distribute the videos if she did not agree to sleep with him again. She later quit her job after her colleagues saw her sex videos on a pornographic website.

On Wednesday (July 15), Poh — a 25-year-old regular and First Sergeant with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) — was sentenced to four months’ jail. 

He ended up selling the videos to at least four buyers via file-hosting service Dropbox. 

He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one charge each of criminal intimidation and circulation of an obscene object. Another similar charge was considered for sentencing.

His victim cannot be named because of a court order to protect her identity.

WHAT HAPPENED 

The pair met in 2018 and had sex on three occasions, the court heard. 

Poh filmed two of the acts, and she sent him three videos of her having sex with other men.

They stopped contacting each other, but he got in touch with her again on Jan 16, 2019 with the intention of having sex.

This time, he created a profile on messaging app Telegram and texted her with it. She did not know he was behind that profile.

After sending two photos of her engaging in sexual acts, Poh demanded that she have sex with him or he would distribute her sex videos.

Out of fear and in an effort to avoid him, she deleted her Telegram account and changed her mobile phone number.

In March 2019, Poh came across a person selling sex videos of the victim in a Telegram group. He paid S$120 for 30 of these videos and uploaded them to his Dropbox account, along with the two videos he had taken and the three videos she had sent him.

He created another profile on Telegram, advertised the videos there, and charged prospective buyers S$90 for access.

When he received payment, he sent buyers the Dropbox link. He sold them to four people between March and July 2019. 

Most of the videos showed the victim’s face and body. She was wearing a uniform from her workplace in two of the videos. 

The name of her workplace was removed from court documents.

On July 9, 2019, the woman’s boyfriend came across Poh’s Telegram account. He sent a message to Poh, pleading with him to stop spreading the videos. He also said that she had moved on with her life.

But Poh demanded more videos of the victim from her boyfriend. He also threatened to send the ones he had to her boss if her boyfriend did not comply.

About a month later, her colleagues told her they had seen her sex videos on a pornographic website. She later resigned from her job.

Poh’s lawyer, Mr Gino Hardial Singh, told the court that his client was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in 2017 and was on medication.

While the lawyer said Poh had conceded that his acts were completely wrong, he argued that Poh did not upload the videos to the pornographic website.

Mr Singh added that his client would lose his job. “He’s remorseful and he’s just gotten married,” he said. 

Poh asked District Judge Samuel Chua to allow him to start his jail sentence later, as he had a huge quarrel with his wife a month ago. They planned to get a divorce, but “managed to talk it through”.

His wife, however, still suffers from slight depression and he needs another month of his salary to pull his family through, Poh said. 

In response to TODAY's queries, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said Poh is currently suspended from duties. "The Ministry of Defence and the SAF have initiated the process to discharge him from service," Mindef said.

The judge ordered Poh to begin serving his jail term on Aug 12. He remains out on bail until then. 

For criminal intimidation, he could have been jailed up to two years, fined or given both penalties.

For circulating an obscene object, he could have been jailed up to three months, fined or punished with both.