Local man charged with blackmailing woman for sex

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November 29, 2007

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG The Press Republican Thu Nov 29, 2007, 11:30 PM EST

PLATTSBURGH -- A local man has been charged with blackmailing a young woman into having sex with him.

According to Plattsburgh City Court records, Sean Sweeney, 35, of Plattsburgh, pretending to be a man named "Vinny," met the 20-year-old woman on MySpace.com earlier this year.

After a few weeks, he sparked instant-message and telephone conversations with the Plattsburgh woman and eventually formed a friendship with her.

As the pair continued talking and forming a bond, Sweeney asked her if she had "any skeletons in her closet?" The question prompted the woman to reveal that some years ago she engaged in sexual acts with two Plattsburgh State hockey players, encounters that she believed may have been videotaped.

That information allegedly fueled a scam that led Sweeney to blackmail the young woman into having sex with him, claiming he, "Vinny," wanted her to engage in sex acts with his friend, Sean.

He told the woman he was friends with the former hockey players and had a copy of the alleged videotape, saying if she had sex with Sean he would destroy the tape.

If not, he allegedly said, he would post the tape on the Internet.

"The tape never existed. I used the information that she gave me to get her to hook up with me," Sweeney admitted to authorities after his Nov. 15 arrest, about three weeks after the alleged blackmail began.

Sweeney said that in late October, the woman agreed to meet with him at his South Platt Street residence, where they engaged in sex several times.

About a week later, he allegedly coerced the woman to return to his home, pretending to be "Vinny" and saying he was mad because she didn't perform oral sex the first time she and Sean met.

The woman later told Plattsburgh City Police she returned to Sweeney's residence, participated in sexual acts and fell asleep on his bed, saying she was tired and wouldn't have sex with him that day.

In his voluntary statement to police, Sweeney said that by then he realized what he was doing was wrong and told the woman he would stop.

But, according to the her, the blackmailed continued.

A few days after the second encounter, she said, Sweeney, as "Vinny," allegedly tried to blackmail her a third time, saying he wanted her to have sex with Sean again.

After telling him she would but was too tired to go over that day, the woman's mother learned of the alleged blackmail and contacted Plattsburgh City Police.

After the complaint was lodged and the woman gave police the address where she met the man, Sweeney was taken into custody and charged with a misdemeanor count of second-degree coercion for blackmail.

He was released and appeared in City Court to face the allegations earlier this week.

Sweeney, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is expected to return to court Dec. 10.

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com