Graduate Student from Colorado Indicted for Sexual Exploitation of Minors and Cyberstalking

Brad D. Schimel, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on April 7, 2026, a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging Chandan M. Bhangale (age: 29) with two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of minors from the Fox Valley region and one count of cyberstalking.

According to court records, Bhangale was a graduate student studying computer science at Colorado State University. He is originally from Pune, Maharashtra, India, and is legally present in the United States via a student visa.

Bhangale is alleged to have targeted minors through popular social media and online messaging platforms to groom and extort them. Court records indicate that Bhangale gained the victims' trust, collected personal information about them, induced them to produce child sexual abuse material ("CSAM"), and then used blackmail to coerce their compliance with his demands. It is further alleged that Bhangale convinced the underage victims that if they did not comply with his demands, there would be serious consequences, ranging from public disclosure of their explicit videos to death or serious bodily harm to the victims or their immediate family members. Through his manipulation, Bhangale coerced the victims to engage in self-harm, cut their own hair, and produce and transmit CSAM.

If convicted of either count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, Bhangale faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a minor. He also faces up to 5 years in prison if convicted for cyberstalking.

This case was investigated by the Outagamie County Sheriff's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Denver Field Office, Milwaukee Field Office, and Green Bay Resident Agency), the Appleton Police Department, the Colorado State University Police Department, the Hortonville Police Department, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice - Division of Criminal Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alex Duros.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative led by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006, by the U.S. Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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For further information contact:

Public Affairs Officer Steve Caballero

(414) 297-1700

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