Bentonville man placed on probation for sexual extortion

BENTONVILLE -- A Bentonville man was placed on 10 years of state supervised probation after pleading guilty to a charge accusing him of threatening to leak sexually explicit photographs of a woman.

Anthony Don Oliver pleaded guilty today to sexual extortion.

Oliver was arrested Sept. 19.

A woman told police someone contacted her by phone two years ago and asked her to send nude photographs, according to a probable cause affidavit. The woman said she believed someone had been stalking her for several years by telephone and social media, according to court documents.

Police began investigating in August after the woman reported an unknown male obtained nude photographs of her from her Snapchat account and demanded she send more nude pictures and videos, according to the affidavit.

The woman said the man threatened to release the remaining photographs if she didn't follow his requests, according to the affidavit.

Police obtained a warrant and traced the communication to Oliver. The woman told police she once worked with Oliver, and she had turned down his request for a date, according to the affidavit.

Oliver told police he had been logging onto the woman's Snapchat account since 2017 after he asked her to send him a password to help him with a project at work, according to court documents. Oliver admitted to using the password to log into the woman's Snapchat and her email and Instagram accounts, the affidavit states.

Oliver told police he sent messages to some of the woman's contacts asking for nude pictures. He said he didn't post any of the photographs on the Internet, according to the affidavit.

Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green placed Oliver on state supervised probation for 10 years. He must work 30 days in Benton County's work program, and will be required to register as a sex offender.

He must pay $1,420 in court associated costs.

NW News on 04/23/2019

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