Stony Point police arrested a Fieldstone Middle School student after a six-month investigation into "sextortion" allegations from other students.

"This is shocking, that is horrible," says Fantino Depena, a father from Rockland County.

Investigators say they "have reason to believe there are potentially several hundred additional victims."

Police said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that six male victims from Fieldstone told their school resource officer they were being coerced online. Those reports led to an "intensive investigation" involving Stony Point police, the North Rockland Central School District, the Rockland County Sheriff's Office, the Rockland district attorney and Haverstraw police.

The student is charged with use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child and possessing a sexual performance by a child. All charges are felonies.

The student was arrested last week.

Police said the case is unique.

"I've never uncovered a suspect that's local," says Detective Andrew Kryger, Stony Point Police Department's youth officer. "A lot of these cases, they end up [being from] out of the state, out of the country mostly."

Kryger said the male suspect, posing as a female on social media, coerced other seventh- and eighth-grade male students into sharing explicit photos and videos of themselves and then exploited them. The suspect would threaten to release the material to the victims' friends if the victims did not send him a gift card worth $100 or send more explicit material, according to Kryger.

"While we will not say specific names for investigation reasons," Kryger said of the social media platforms the suspect used, "we want to stress that sextortion could happen on nearly any platform where children communicate online."

Kryger said the six alleged victims and their families were brave to come forward, and their courage was key to getting an arrest.

He suspects there are more — potentially hundreds more — victims from the middle school, other states and other countries. Heencourages all the victims to call him at 845-786-2422.

"Victims must never feel blame or ashamed," he said. "The responsibility lies solely with the perpetrators."

Stony Point police, Haverstraw police and the school district will host an open forum about sextortion in the near future.

"It is up to us as a community, together with school administration and parents, to provide safe platforms where our youth feel comfortable speaking about negative experiences without fear of secondary consequences, humiliation or punishment," Stony Point Lt. Daniel Schoales wrote in the release.

"News of this arrest may be unsettling for students, staff and families. While we have exceptional partners in law enforcement who help keep our schools safe, we need everyone to practice vigilance when it comes to conversations and activities that happen outside of the school day or online. It is vitally important that families also oversee their children’s online activity at home. Parents and caregivers play a key role in keeping their kids safe by discussing healthy relationships and by respecting boundaries. Together, we can help ensure our children understand that sexual extortion is NEVER their fault, and that there is always someone to help navigate these situations if they find that they have fallen victim," North Rockland Central School District Superintendent Kris Felicello wrote in a message to parents.

Since the suspect is a juvenile, his next court appearance will be in family court.