Man accused of sexual extortion

BENTONVILLE — A Bentonville man admitted to police he obtained sexually explicit photographs of a woman and then used the threat of leaking the images in an attempt to get more photographs, according to court documents.

Anthony Don Oliver, 20, was arrested Tuesday in connection with sexual extortion. Prosecutors haven’t filed formal charges.

He was being held in the Benton County Jail on Wednesday with no bond set.

The woman told police someone contacted her by phone two years ago and asked her to send nude photographs, according to the affidavit. The woman said she believed someone had been stalking her for several years by telephone and social media, according to court document.

She reported in June her Snapchat account was hacked and someone attempted to hack her Instagram account and changed her account’s

email address, the affidavit states.

Bentonville police began investigating in August after the woman reported an unknown male obtained nude photographs of her from her Snapchat account and demanded she send more nude pictures and videos, according to a probable cause affidavit. The woman said the man threatened to release the remaining photographs if she didn’t follow his requests, according to the affidavit.

Police obtained a warrant and traced the communication to Oliver. The woman told police she once worked with Oliver, and she had turned down his request for a date, according to the affidavit.

Oliver told police he had been logging onto the woman’s Snapchat account since 2017 after he asked her to send him a password to help him with a project at work, according to court documents. Oliver admitted to using the password to log into the woman’s Snapchat and her email and Instagram accounts, the affidavit states.

According to the affidavit, he admitted to asking the woman to send him sexually explicit and nude photographs. Oliver said he “hinted around leaking them,” but he never intended on releasing the images, the affidavit states. Oliver said his main purpose was to get more explicit photographs, according to the affidavit.

Oliver told police he sent messages to some of the woman’s contacts asking for nude pictures. He said he didn’t post any of the photographs from her Snapchat account on the Internet, according to the affidavit.

His arraignment is scheduled for 8 a.m. Oct. 29 in Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green’s courtroom.