COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) -- Gov. Mike DeWine in a Wednesday afternoon ceremony signed a bill into law that makes sexual extortion a felony offense in Ohio. Ohio House Bill 531, called Braden's Law, creates the offense of sexual extortion, in which a person threatens to release private images of another person, in order to compel them into acting against their will, or giving them more private images or something else of value, like money. I-Team: See what led to a rookie police officer being taken off the streets The offense is a third-degree felony, but is upgraded to a second-degree felony if the victim is younger than 18, an elderly person or a disabled adult. After two offenses against those protected groups, the charge is upgraded to a first-degree felony. Under the new law, sentencing courts must consider the physical or psychological impact the crime had on the victim -- including whether the person harmed themselves or died by suicide as a result of being extorted. The bill also forces telecommunications companies, through which perpetrators communicate with their victims, to comply with court-issued search or interception warrants for those communications, regardless of whether the data sought by investigators is stored in another state. The bill also requires those companies to give the parents whose children died access to their child's phone within 30 days. Crews respond to fire at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s RainForest The bill is named for Braden Markus, an Olentangy High School student and victim of sexual extortion, who died by suicide in 2021. The bill's sponsor Rep. Brian Lorenz of Powell, R-60th, earlier this week told the FOX 8 I-Team this week the teen's family waited 10 months to receive his phone, and to be able to learn more about the scheme. “We want to tell those evil people that are thinking of committing this evil crime that it won’t be tolerated in Ohio,” he said.