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Man Charged After “Texting” Relationship Turns To Alleged Extortion
By: Susan Tebben | The Athens Messenger
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A “texting relationship” between two Ohio University students has resulted in one student being charged with extortion and sexual battery.
Dorian J. Graham, 19, is facing the charges after another student accused him of pretending to be a woman while texting with the student, “convincing” the student to send nude photos to him and posting the photos on the Internet.
Graham is also accused of demanding other actions from the student in exchange for removal of the photos from a website and other social media.
In a bill of particulars filed Dec. 16, the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office explains the charges, one count each of sexual battery, extortion, attempted sexual battery and attempted extortion.
The crime was allegedly committed in September. On Sept. 20, Graham texted the victim using a female name and began a “texting relationship,” the bill of particulars stated.
The relationship included Graham, as the woman, convincing the victim to send him “a nude picture(s) and/or video(s) of himself to ‘her,’” court documents stated.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 23, Graham contacted the victim, asking him to look at a website, where the images the victim had sent were displayed.
The victim begged Graham to “take ‘it’ down” and said the images “could really (expletive) my whole life up,” the prosecution states in the bill of particulars.
That same day, in Adams Hall, Graham “did engage in sexual conduct” with the victim, according to the bill of particulars.
“Victim complied with (Graham’s) demand against his will,” the bill states. “(Graham) required Victim to engage in the sexual activity and to video record the activity and send it to him.”
During the process, Graham allegedly told the victim that he, too, was the victim of an alleged extortion and being demanded to engage in the sexual activity.
Later on Sept. 23, Graham contacted the victim demanding more from him.
“You can do it again, the right way during the day so it’s not so dark and sketchy and stuff,” Graham allegedly told the victim. “And if you do it the way we asked then we will both delete what we have.”
On Oct. 2, the victim was threatened with blackmail and more text exchanges resulted in Graham allegedly saying the images would appear on Instagram and Facebook.
The victim declined to comply with the demands and told Graham he would contact law enforcement if the pictures went up online. The images went up, and the victim contacted authorities.
Graham was never arrested, according to Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn, but was indicted on the charges Nov. 25. The case was investigated by the Athens Police Department and OU Police, Blackburn said.
The victim has been cooperative in the case, Blackburn said. No other victims have come forward in this case.
Graham was arraigned and pleaded innocent to the charges on Dec. 4.
He has been released on a $10,000 recognizance bond. A jury trial was scheduled for Jan. 28, but has been moved to Feb. 25. A pre-trial conference will be held on the original trial date.