Two Charged with Extortion After Man's Suicide

A Paducah pair are charged with extortion in an alleged blackmail case authorities say led to a man taking his own life.

The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says 22-year-old Bryant Shaw placed a classified ad soliciting prostitution on the website Backpage.com. A local man reportedly responded to the ad, but ultimately changed his mind and declined. Police say Shaw then told the man that if he didn't pay money he would expose the man publicly to his wife and family. The man paid Shaw seven payments totalling more than $2,000 over the next few weeks. Shaw demanded more money, threatening to come to the man’s home to collect. Deputies said the man then went to a secluded area and took his own life after confessing to his family what was happening.

Investigators later learned the ad had been a hoax, and Shaw was pretending to be the woman depicted in the photo to extort money from respondents.

Detectives arrested Shaw and his alleged accomplice, 23-year-old Taylor Howard Tuesday on felony theft by extortion charges. They were booked into the McCracken County Jail.