Siloam Springs man accused of rape and sexual extortion

File photo
File photo

BENTONVILLE -- A Siloam Springs man arrested last month in connection with extortion has been arrested again following accusations he raped two girls and extorted several others by threatening to release nude images of them.

Matthew Nance, 22, was in court Monday for his third bond hearing in recent weeks. He was arrested in connection with two counts of rape, six counts of sexual extortion and one count of kidnapping.

He was arrested last week in connection with sexual extortion. His first arrest was June 20 in connection with four counts of sexual extortion.

Prosecutors have not filed formal charges against Nance. He was in the Benton County Jail on Tuesday on a bond of $425,000.

Siloam Springs police started investigating in April after the mother of a 17-year-old girl reported an incident, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The girl told police she was in Walmart when Nance, who worked for a bank, approached her about opening a checking and savings account. Nance set up the account and asked for her cellphone to set up the mobile banking app, according to the affidavit.

The girl said she received a message from someone on Snapchat, and the person threatened to send nude photographs of her to her parents, boyfriend and friends if she didn't do what she was told. The person instructed her to send pictures of her outfit and underwear, and she refused, according to the affidavit.

The girl said a search of the user name on the Snapchat account showed Nance's name, according to the affidavit.

Police questioned Nance, who denied being involved and claimed someone was using his name, according to the affidavit. Police obtained a search warrant to Snapchat for the account information and connected it to Nance, according to the affidavit.

Police questioned Nance again and he admitted sending the messages to the 17-year-old, the affidavit states. He said the girl's Snapchat account name came up when he had her phone and he remembered it and sent her a message, according to the affidavit.

A woman came forward after Nance's first arrest and reported to Siloam Springs police that Nance would contact her on social media and threaten her with photographs and force her to do sexual things or he would expose the photographs of her to people she knew, according to the affidavit.

Ten more girls or young women came forward with complaints concerning Nance after his first arrest, according to the affidavit. Police believe Nance has a pattern of obtaining personal information, then using it to extort people, the affidavit states.

Nance told police he targets girls 14 to 18 years old because they are easier to control and he enjoys having power over people, according to court documents.

A girl told police after reading a news article about Nance's first arrest that he had been using nude photographs of her for two years to extort her, according to court documents.

Another girl told police Nance had also helped her set up the bank's mobile app on her phone and someone started using a photo that was on her phone to try to get more images of her, according to court documents.

One girl told police Nance raped her and tried to extort her for nude photographs, according to the affidavit. She said Nance took a video of himself raping her in 2018 when she was intoxicated and passed out, according to court documents.

Police interviewed a person who reported the girl told her about Nance raping her, but she did not come forward because Nance had videos of her using drugs and threatened to release the videos on social media, according to the affidavit. She said Nance knew how to control people and would threaten to release damaging videos if anyone went against him, according to court documents.

A girl told police on July 6 she now had the courage to come forward since more girls had complained about Nance, according to court documents. She told police Nance raped her at his apartment when she was 16 years old, according to the affidavit.

She told police she received a message on social media threatening her to do whatever the person asked, according to the affidavit. The last message she received was claiming to know who raped her, and she suspected the messages were from Nance because she said he was the one who raped her, according to court documents.

Nance's bond was set at $75,000 after his first arrest and he was released from the Benton County Jail. The bondsman revoked the bond on July 5 and returned Nance to the jail.

His second bond hearing was held and the bond in that case was set at $150,000 cash or corporate surety.

Kelsey Six, deputy prosecutor, on Monday urged Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren to set Nance's bond at $200,000 in connection with the third arrest.

Six presented emails Nance had sent from the jail claiming he planned to flee to Texas if released on bond. Court documents claim Nance exchanged telephone calls with his girlfriend and she told him to head to Texas where she would be waiting when he was released from jail, according to court documents.

Nance's total bond is now $425,000 cash or corporate surety.


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