Police: Man videotaped ex-girlfriend, threatened to post footage on YouTube
BY JON SEIDEL Sun-Times Media jseidel@suntimes.com January 13, 2012 4:06PM
Juan C. Villegas
Updated: January 13, 2012 7:48PM
A Plainfield man videotaped his ex-girlfriend in her Romeoville home then demanded $13,000 to not publish the footage online, authorities said.
Juan C. Villegas, 32, was charged Friday with unlawfully videotaping a residence, and Will County Judge Marzell Richardson set his bail at $40,000.
A prosecutor said police discovered the privacy invasion after a woman in the 300 block of Macon Avenue told them she’d received harassing emails.
The anonymous blackmailer sent the victim a note threatening to upload photos and video of her to Facebook or YouTube if she didn’t pay $5,000, Romeoville police Asst. Chief Steven Lucchesi said.
Her fiance also received emails — and video of the victim — asking for $8,000. She appeared unclothed in some of the footage, prosecutors said.
Though the woman didn’t know who sent the emails, she eventually began to suspect Villegas, an ex-boyfriend who Lucchesi said lived at the home for about a year.
When confronted by police, Villegas admitted taking five videos of the victim while he lived with her, and he acknowledged sending the emails to the victim and her fiance. He’s scheduled to appear in court again Feb. 3.
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