Peoria police arrested Patrick Battillo — a Phoenix Suns super fan known as Mr. ORNG — on April 9 on allegations that he solicited sexual photos and videos from minors who played on the Peoria High School boys basketball team he coached.
The local celebrity, 37, who paints himself orange and is a fixture at Suns games, was initially charged with one count of luring a minor for sexual exploitation and one count of child sex trafficking. A grand jury later indicted Battillo on four counts of attempt to commit sexual exploitation of a minor
Four students at Peoria High School — all of whom are on the basketball team and range in age from 15 to 16 — claimed that Battillo asked them for photos of themselves nude and performing sex acts, according to probable cause statements from the Peoria Police Department.
One of the students claimed Battillo paid him for nude images of himself, according to the statements.
On April 10, Battillo appeared in jailhouse orange before Court Commissioner William Cawthon, who set Battillo’s bond at $100,000. Battillo’s next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday.
Court records included a summary of police interviews with two students whom Battillo contacted on Snapchat, allegedly asking for sexual images and videos of themselves. Battillo allegedly told one of the students, who was 16, that he sold an unknown woman sex videos of himself masturbating in showers.
The boy told police this “weirded him out.”
Battillo allegedly asked the teen if he was interested in selling the woman similar images and videos of himself. Battillo promised the student that no one else would see the material.
The student agreed to the proposition and then “went onto a social media platform and obtained a couple of masturbation videos and sent them to Patrick via Snapchat,” according to the summary. Battillo replied, telling the teen that the woman wanted to see the student’s face.
But the teen did not want to send Battillo an image of his face.
“Patrick then asked for the V (victim) to ‘Spread his ass on camera’ or “Piss on self.’ The V felt disgusted with that request,” the police document noted.
Battillo also allegedly requested that the teen send videos of him having sex with his girlfriend, who also was a minor.
The student told police that he did not believe the unknown woman existed and that Battillo was pretending to be the woman, according to the summary. He asked Battillo for the woman’s Snapchat username. Once the teen had it, he asked the woman for an image of herself, but she did not send one, the summary added.
The boy confronted Battillo about his suspicions, but Battillo denied that he was pretending to be the unknown woman, the summary said.
In another Snapchat conversation, the student said Battillo had explicit instructions on what photos he should send the unknown woman: “Solo with nut, showers with nut, smashing (sex with a girl), top (oral with a girl) and the V masturbating. Patrick added all with nut and full face as you nut. Nut is a term used for ejaculation,” a court document said.
Battillo was just as explicit in his photo requests during text threads with the student, according to the probable cause stat
ement.
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