A 44-year-old man accused of taking intimate photos of a love interest in Moreno Valley and then attempting to extort money from her by threatening to circulate the pictures unless she paid him was charged Monday with extortion and witness intimidation.
Joel Daza of Redondo Beach was arrested Thursday after a Riverside County sheriff’s sting that involved the alleged victim.
Along with the two felony charges, Daza is charged with a misdemeanor count of taking unauthorized photos of a person in a compromising position for illicit purposes.
He entered a not guilty plea, and Superior Court Judge John Monterosso scheduled a felony settlement conference for Feb. 20 at the Riverside Hall of Justice and set the defendant’s bail at $250,000.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Roberts, a Moreno Valley woman, identified in court documents only by the initials “J.D.,” contacted detectives last Wednesday and alleged that Daza had been pushing her to give him money in exchange for not publishing revealing photos that he captured during several intimate encounters they’d had in recent months.
Daza was apparently incensed by the prospect of the victim ending their relationship, Roberts alleged.
He said investigators arranged for the woman to call Daza to meet at a motel in an unspecified location, where the defendant was taken into custody without a struggle.
Roberts said the Anaheim Police Department is handling a separate case involving Daza for similar alleged offenses.
The defendant, who’s being held at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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