A man from Germantown is facing criminal charges after he was accused twice in the same month of blackmailing at least six women in sextortion schemes.
22-year-old Michael Brendan Cooper was reportedly involved in a skirmish with a woman’s boyfriend after the man accused Cooper of trying to con his girlfriend into having sex by threatening to share explicit content of the woman with her employer and loved ones.
When the alleged victim’s boyfriend first learned about the possibility that his girlfriend was being shaken down by Cooper, he went with the woman after she made arrangements to meet with the suspected predator.
Upon seeing Cooper, the woman’s boyfriend jumped him and grabbed his cell phone during their struggle.
The man said he looked through the files on the device and saw images of his girlfriend and several other women, some of whom he was familiar with.
The concerned boyfriend allegedly deleted all of the files that reportedly contained the revealing content showing the women, and snapped a photo of Cooper while he was still on the ground.
The man posted the picture of Cooper on social media with a warning to women who might have encountered him, and it was reported that a few people left comments indicating they had contact with him.
The authorities were not made aware of the situation until a few days later when Cooper reportedly contacted them to make a report concerning his missing cell phone.
After speaking with Cooper, investigators came across the post about him on social media, and they became concerned about the allegations made against him.
When the authorities discovered five women they believe were victims of Cooper’s alleged scheme, he was held legally accountable and arrested for suspicion of crimes relating to sextortion.
The authorities believe that Cooper created an account posing as a lesbian and asked each of the women to supply racy materials using the name “Rebecca Lattimore.” It was asserted that Cooper would then share his true identity and tried to use the collected images to force the women to have sex with him.
After Cooper was released from jail, he allegedly continued trying to pressure at least one more woman using the same sextortion method he was accused of employing on the others.
When the alleged victim’s boyfriend found out about the situation he met Cooper and detained him using a knife while waiting for the authorities to arrive.
Cooper was taken into custody a second time, and he is being held without bond for the allegations.
If you or someone you love is suspected of a sexual offense, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.