Montco man charged in sex tape extortion plot

A Montgomery County man was charged Monday in an alleged extortion attempt involving a sex tape of his ex-girlfriend, police said.

The investigation into the video collection of Omari Listenbee, 33, of Glenside, began when a 37-year-old Exton woman filed a report with West Whiteland Township police.

The woman said Listenbee, her former boyfriend, had threatened to post sexually explicit videos of her on the Internet, including the Facebook accounts of all of her friends, unless she paid him $3,000, said West Whiteland Sgt. Martin Malloy.

Malloy said the woman realized that Listenbee had recorded the two of them having sex without her knowledge or permission. To prove that, he sent her still photographs from the videos, Malloy said.

Investigators recovered the photos, phone messages and text messages indicating Listenbee's extortion attempt, Malloy said. Then police overheard a phone call between the victim and Listenbee, during which he further implicated himself and demanded that the money be delivered to his workplace: the Bed, Bath and Beyond store in St. David's.

Investigators, who were assisted by detectives from Chester County, Delaware County, and the Radnor Police Department, were ready for the rendezvous with store surveillance and an arrest warrant, Malloy said.

When the victim met Listenbee in the parking lot and handed him an envelope containing more than $2,000 in marked, copied bills, he took the money and was taken into custody, Malloy said.

Listenbee was arraigned and released on $75,000 unsecured bail to await a preliminary hearing on Oct. 25; he faces charges that include theft by extortion, invasion of privacy, and criminal use of a communication facility, court records said