North Huntingdon police made an arrest after sorting through a convoluted scheme that cost a township man nearly $24,000, according to court records.
The man reported to police last year that he donated to what he believed was an online fundraiser for a person in need of a heart transplant. That donation led him to begin an online relationship with an adult performer on OnlyFans who sent him nude photographs and asked for more donations, police said.
When the man ran out of cash, he was contacted through other phone numbers claiming that the nude photographs were of a juvenile girl. Those messages came with threats to expose him and demands for more money, to which the man acquiesced, according to court papers.
Police used search warrants to sort through several names and aliases, phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts and payment services to connect all of the payments to Sydney Marie Carlson, 29, of Raleigh, N.C.
She was arrested by police in in Franklin County, North Carolina on the North Huntingdon arrest warrant, said township polcie Chief Robert Rizzo. Westmoreland County Sheriff’s deputies extradited her to Westmoreland County Tuesday, said Chief Deputy Jen Shipley.
Carlson was denied bail after beign arraigned Tuesday on six counts including theft by extortion and theft by deception. She was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison. An attorney was not listed in online court records. A preliminary hearing is set for May 23.
