Lima woman pleads to federal extortion charges

News Top Stories Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp TOLEDO — A Lima woman faces more than 30 years in federal prison for her involvement in a scheme to extort money from the family of an autistic peer support client by threatening to post an artificially generated sex video online. Crystal Cisco, 47, pleaded guilty Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to charges of wire fraud, interstate communication with intent to extort, receiving the proceeds of extortion and money laundering. Judge James Knepp II set sentencing for Feb. 23. Cisco faces a maximum prison sentence of 35 years if sentences on the four charges are run consecutively. According to court documents, Cisco, who was a mental health peer advocate at Rhodes State College, had been hired as a peer support person by the parents of the 28-year-old victim. An investigation determined she used artificial intelligence software to generate sexually explicit audio and images of the victim to extort the victim’s parents by demanding money, a new residence, a vehicle and a cellphone in exchange for not sharing the content publicly. Agents determined through their investigation that the purported sex video of the victim was a fabricated story used to facilitate the extortion scheme and did not exist. The victim’s family paid Cisco more than $85,000 because of the extortion. The investigation was led by the FBI Toledo Resident Agency and the Allen County Sheriff’s Office. Reach J Swygart at 567-242-0464 Featured Local Savings