Senator Lauren Book targeted in stalking, extortion scheme
A Plantation man tried to get state Sen. Lauren Book to give him $5,000, threatening to release semi-nude and sexually explicit photos of her if she didn’t pay up, according to an arrest report.
Book, D-Plantation, is Florida’s Senate Minority Leader and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by her nanny. She contacted law enforcement immediately after receiving the first threatening message on Nov 12 and worked with authorities to apprehend the man, identified in court documents as Jeremy Kamperveen, 19.
Kamperveen is charged with one count of extortion and one count of cyberstalking. According to an arrest report, Kamperveen tried to negotiate a deal with the legislator that reduced the financial request in exchange for sexual favors.
“We’ll part friends and I’ll never bother you again,” he wrote in a text message to Book, who had turned her phone over to undercover agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Agents arrested Kamperveen at a Starbucks in Sunrise on Nov. 17.
In a statement released Thursday, Book described the images as “distorted, fake and stolen.” Kamperveen’s arrest report indicates some of the images were authenticated during the investigation.
Book’s name is redacted in the publicly available version of the arrest report, but Book said she was compelled to come forward when her name was leaked as the victim in the case.
“The investigation is active and ongoing to ensure that other individuals that could be behind these serious criminal acts that are targeting me are apprehended and brought to justice,” Book said in her emailed statement.
Kamperveen has no prior arrest record in Broward County. The first messages he allegedly sent contained nude pictures with the instruction that Book, 36, should speak to the sender and it would “all work out better.” Failure to follow his instructions would have led to the pictures being released to Fox News, the sender warned.
Starting the next day, any time Kamperveen sent a message to Book, he was really talking to undercover agents, according to the arrest report. “I am here because you turn me on,” he said, asking for selfies, according to the report. “If you wish to pay money instead, then I can make that deal.”
Agents posing as Book rejected the first offer of a $5,000 payment, and investigators say Kamperveen reduced the cost to $3,000 and a sexual favor. When that was refused, they set up a meeting at the Sunrise Starbucks, where Kamperveen was allegedly expecting a $4,000 payment in exchange for destroying the images and videos he claimed to possess.
Kamperveen was released from custody Nov. 18 after posting a $60,000 bond. He is being represented by the Broward Public Defender’s Office, which had no comment late Thursday.
Book has long been an advocate for survivors of child sexual abuse. In 2015, she walked 1,500 miles around the state to raise awareness of the issue. She was elected to the state Senate the following year. Her father, Ron Book, is one of Broward’s most influential lobbyists.