Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WEST VALLEY CITY — An Ogden man who police say was trying to sexually extort a woman for more than a year now faces numerous felony charges.
In addition, prosecutors say Michael Layne Andersen, 27, is being investigated in another extortion case in another county that may include numerous victims.
Andersen was charged in 3rd District Court Wednesday with six counts of sexual extortion, a second-degree felony; stalking and distribution of an intimate image, class A misdemeanors; and five counts of electronic communications harassment, a class B misdemeanor.
Anderson is a friend of the victim's ex-boyfriend. In December of 2020, just a few weeks after the woman broke up with her boyfriend, she received a text message from an unknown number that contained a nude photo of herself.
"Send more and I will tell you … or maybe I start posting them and sending them," the accompanying message said, according to charging documents.
The woman replied she was going to contact police. She then received a message from another number stating, "The vids are even better," the charges state.
The woman continued to receive pictures of herself sent from different phone numbers, according to the charges. The person sending the messages even tried calling, but the woman did not answer and blocked the number that came up.
After receiving more texts in March of 2021, the woman sent a reply message telling the person to stop contacting her. But she "continued to receive numerous threatening and sexual texts from someone admitting to be the same person," the charges state.
Police counted a total of 38 phone numbers that the woman blocked, 15 voicemails left by different numbers, and "numerous text messages from different phone numbers."
In September, Andersen texted that he was outside the woman's home and threatened to come back that night, the charges state. In November, the woman agreed to talk to the suspect on the phone and recorded the conversation.
The conversation was handed over to West Valley police. Detectives learned that the caller was using the Pinger app which can be "used to change your phone number and communicate with people via the internet," according to a police affidavit.
After serving several warrants, police said they determined that Andersen was the one using Pinger to send the threatening messages.
Police questioned Andersen, who said the woman's ex-boyfriend showed him photos of the woman while they were going through their breakup, but claimed "the photos were never provided" to him, according to the charges.
Anderson was convicted of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor, in 2nd District Court in January. Prosecutors also noted in charging documents that Andersen is a suspect in a similar case out of Grantsville in which he allegedly contacted women and girls and "requested nude photos and sexual favors via Snapchat for money" and would then "threaten to distribute the nude photos if the victim did not have sex with him."
"There are potentially over 20 victims" in the Grantsville investigation, the charging documents say. Formal charges in that case had not been filed as of Wednesday.
