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March 29, 2007
KANSAS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO BLACKMAIL SCHEME
KANSAS CITY, KAN. - Max A. Hundley, 46, Mission, Kan., pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion by threatening to injure another person's reputation.
Hundley entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia. In his plea, Hundley admitted that he and co-defendant Ivon E. Yates demanded $50,000 to keep confidential what they knew about another man's sexual encounter.
On Jan. 20, 2007, a 63-year-old man told an FBI agent that he was being blackmailed. The victim said he had received phone calls from people who claimed to possess a video tape showing him participating in an extramarital affair with a prostitute who used the name "Traycee Eros." The callers were threatening to use the information to destroy the reputation of the victim and his family. They were demanding $50,000 not to release the tape.
The victim said he began receiving calls Dec. 17, 2006, both on his home phone and his cell phone, demanding money. Investigators determined that the calls were coming from pay phones located at 10 or more separate businesses in Kansas and Missouri. During the course of the investigation, some of the threatening calls were recorded and agents were able to observe calls being made from phones at locations including 4208 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, Kan., 420 W. 6th, Kearney, Mo., 4628 Mission Road, Kansas City, Kan., and 4700 Lamar, Mission, Kan.
On Jan. 25, 2007, the victim followed a series of instructions from the callers, eventually arriving at a location on I-35 highway near mile marker "0," where he leaned out of the passenger side window of his car and dropped a simulated package of money over the guard rail. The money fell on the railroad tracks between the I-35 overpass and Ponak's restaurant parking lot. At approximately 9:15 p.m., Hundley was arrested when he drove up in a white Ford pick-up truck in an attempt to collect the money.
Hundley is set for sentencing June 25. He faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the conspiracy count. Yates is awaiting trial. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department prepared the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tris Hunt is prosecuting.