One man and two women were arrested and charged with blackmail, threats and conspiracy in a case that began with a lost smartphone.
Accordng to a report from the V.I. Police Department, the suspects were in possession of an iPhone that belonged to another person, and attempted to extort money from the owner by threatening to expose personal information contained on the phone.
The owner of the phone told police that he lost his iPhone on Dec. 26.
On Jan. 9, he told police, he began receiving e-mail messages threatening to expose private information contained on his phone. He was told that he could get his phone back by paying $1,000.
Police launched an investigation and on Thursday arrested 20-year-old Indira C. Butler of Estate Glynn, 18-year-old Carolina Castillo of Orange Grove Apartments, and 24-year-old Jose A. Felix of Estate Cane. They were charged with blackmail, possession of stolen property, threats, conspiracy and appropriating lost property.
All three suspects were held on $10,000 bail each and were remanded to the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility pending court action.
