Man accused of sex tape 'blackmail'
Keith KINNAIRD<br | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 15 years, 3 months AGO
SANDPOINT — Lonnie Lee Allen’s criminal troubles in Idaho are drawing to a close, but they’re just getting started in Iowa.
Allen, 39, was sentenced Thursday in a felony domestic abuse case in which he was accused of choking a girlfriend and threatening to destroy her reputation by exposing a sex tape the two made.
Allen was given a suspended prison term of 1-3 years after entering a plea to attempted strangulation and serving almost five months in the Bonner County Jail awaiting trial.
Allen, a visitor from Spokane, Wash., was arrested last August following a rolling domestic dispute on U.S. Highway 2. A search of his car led to the discovery of 25 videotapes of him having sex with various women.
No criminal charges were filed in Idaho in connection with the tapes because the 40-year-old victim in the choking case was apparently a willing participant in the filming.
A condition of Allen’s probation in Idaho requires him to return to Iowa to face a charge of extortion.
Documents obtained by The Daily Bee indicate Allen threatened to expose another former lover in Dubuque, Iowa, with a sex tape that she initially didn’t know even existed.
A 24-year-old woman told Dubuque Police that Allen threatened to show the sex tape to friends and family members if she badmouthed him to others.
“(The alleged victim) had recently reported that Allen tried to use the video tapes as blackmail to keep his name in good standing,” Officer Justin Weidemann said in a July 2009 police report.
Under Iowa law, a person can be charged with extortion if they threaten to expose another to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or if they threaten to harm a business or professional reputation.
MORE IMPORTED STORIES
ARTICLES BY KEITH KINNAIRD<BR
Appeals court rules in cattle truck spill case
SANDPOINT — Idaho’s Court of Appeals is upholding the vacated judgment against a Canadian cattle truck driver accused of spilling a mixture of feces, urine and rainwater on U.S. Highway 95 in Boundary County.
Constitutional amendments on Nov. 2 ballot
SANDPOINT — Idaho voters will get a chance to weigh in on Idaho constitutional amendments concerning funding for the University of Idaho and public airports, hospitals and electrical systems.
Man with child porn arrested by Border Patrol
PORTHILL — A United States citizen was arrested earlier this month after allegedly getting his car stuck while attempting to sneak into Canada with a laptop computer containing child pornography.